A classic Dublin Zoo image (NLI)
Over the years, a few animals have managed to carry out ‘The Great Escape’, ditching the surroundings of the Phoenix Park for a life of freedom. In many cases, the escaped animals were captured and returned to the zoo, but on occasion they had to be killed. The below are just a few examples of animals who have the trip over the wall or out the gate, some didn’t make it beyond the park, while others made it as far as city centre shopping centres.
The bear who feasted on sweets, and passed out.
In March 1939, a bear escaped from its enclosure only to be discovered in the refreshment rooms of the zoo, thankfully closed to the public at the time. He had feast on cake, sweets and nuts, and was discovered sleeping in a cloakroom!
Irish Independent, March 16 1939
The pelican who ended up in Drogheda, September 1961.
In September 1961 one of the two pelicans in Dublin Zoo escaped, and was spotted by many Dubliners “perched on houses and public buildings on the northside of the city.” Missing for three weeks, he was eventually recaptured. He was found in Drogheda, where he spent some time in the Civic Guard station before his return to the capital. This adventurer was following in the footsteps of an earlier pelican, who in September 1943 vanished from the zoo.
The stag who explored the Magazine Fort, February 1924.
In February 1924, a Wapiti stag spent a lonely night on a small island near the Castleknock gates to the park, having only arrived days earlier at the zoo from New Brunswick. Making short work of an eight-foot railing, he found himself occupying the small island instead. When approached, he darted towards the Magazine Fort, jumping its barbed wire fence with ease. After a long day of avoiding park authorities, the animal collapsed with exhaustion and died soon after his recapture.
Two cheetah’s in two weeks.
In August 1990, two Cheetah’s managed to escape from the zoo, only a week after one another. The second of these animals was shot dead, in an incident involving plain clothes Gardaí. When zoo vets fired two tranquillisers into the animal, it only seemed to become more agitated and Gardaí were required to kill it.
The incident was highly embarrassing for Dublin Zoo, coming so soon after another cheetah had escaped its premises. On a Saturday in August, the park was packed with families, and newspapers reported that children as young as twelve had witnessed the cheetah being shot five times at close range.
The Mary Street Raccoon.
In December 1942, a raccoon escaped from the Zoo and was later spotted wandering around Mary Street. His exploits were reported in The Irish Times on the 14th and 15th of December.
December 14th 1942
The following day, it was said he “continued to do the sights of Dublin”, and was “seen in various shopping centres.”
Click on the book for more.
Click on the book for more.
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
The above post brings to mind the undermentioned incident. Jack Kinahan
The death of a lion in the care of Dublin Zoo in January 1864 inspired an anonymous writer, believed to be Judge Sir Thomas Snagge, to compose an “Elegy on the death of our Lion “.The animal took ill during severe winter weather, a condition not helped by the absence of central heating in his quarters. It was the subject of regular attention from a Doctor Houghton and others, its diet consisting of beef tea and whisky punch. The Elegy informs us that the prescription for the punch read as follows;
R.Kinahan’s spir. Oz, duo
Aqua. Oz sex; sumat leo
This is a fictional account of a sad event, which apparently aroused city wide interest and concern. However the fact that Kinahan’s were referred to at all is, like so many other mentions of LL whiskey in 19th century literature, an affirmation that this was indeed a well known and very popular brand of whisky.
Links to this summary
1865 Dublin Quarterly Journal of Science Vol.5 page 38 Reverend Samuel Haughton On the Death of a Lion and an Ostrich in Dublin Zoo. This source describes the death of a lion in Dublin Zoo because of excessive cold. The beast was treated by a member of the Zoological Society, Doctor Haughton. Part of the treatment included whiskey toddy. In a doggerel written to commemorate the event and attributed to Judge Sir Thomas Snagge, the whiskey employed was humourously said to be Kinahan’s
http://books.google.com/books?id=-VcEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA38&dq=kinahan's+whisky&hl=en&ei=_slrTfyHJMKKhQfAx6TyDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAjjIAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
See also (1) R S Ball. Reminiscences and letters of Sir Robert Ball Pages 295-6. http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/robert-s-robert-stawell-ball/reminiscences-and-letters-of-sir-robert-ball-hci/page-30-reminiscences-and-letters-of-sir-robert-ball-hci.shtml
(2) British Medical Journal 24 June 1876 page 794. An account entitled The Dublin Lions
Click to access brmedj04523-0018.pdf
1885 Arthur Nicols Natural History Sketches among the carnivore, wild and domestic. Page 109
Nicols, noticing that two of his dogs “were suffering much from thirst, dropped ten drops of ordinary Kinahan’s whisky into their basin containing a quart of fresh water… ”
http://books.google.com/books?id=_g0AAAAAQAAJ&q=kinahan's+whisky&dq=kinahan's+whisky&hl=en&ei=h3ByTe7ED8LOhAe48YTjBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFUQ6AEwCTgK
I think I remember a story from when I was a kid in the 1950s of a pair of gibbons escaping from their island in Dublin Zoo when the pond froze over. A gibbon escaped with her baby from the island in 2010 by swinging from a low branch Two years previous to that an orang utang escaped from its enclosure, again by swinging from a branch, and was soon recaptured after being reported by a visiting school group from Inchicore. My oulfella had a theory that one of my sister’s boyfriends had also escaped from the zoo, but I think he may have been joking.
While I certainly enjoyed visits to the “azoo” as a child, I later began to question its right to cage wild animals for our entertainment when I observed the lone polar bear pacing up and down in an obviously disturbed manner in its tiny pit surrounded by grimy water instead of freely exploring the vast polar region and its pristine ocean. Then I began to see so many of the other so-called exhibits displaying neurotic behaviour. If you would like to consider this question further, take a dekko at http://www.captiveanimals.org