We drill for all kinds of things – fires, earthquakes, active shooters, plane crashes, etc. – but you might not realize that zoos have drills to test their protocols for handling animal escapes from enclosures.
Which should make you feel pretty good. I mean, we’re all going to want to know the fastest way to safety if a rampaging hippo is on the loose (but if it’s a giraffe, I’m headed straight for it, no apologies).
Now, the Tobe Zoo in Ehime, Japan, is going viral after these images of their drill simulating an escaped lion appeared online.
A human dressed up as a lion and prowled around the park (looking for prey, or perhaps just a way out) until being (fake) shot by a tranquilizer dart and caught in a net before being carted back to his enclosure.
All well and good, except the whole show took place right in front of the real lions, and people have noticed something hilarious – they do not look at all impressed.
And the reactions from folks online as to what those lions might be thinking are truly hilarious.
https://twitter.com/SeaSaltArt/status/1142475042950975488
There are the ones who point out that the lions are clearly not amused by the human f*ckery.
https://twitter.com/RoowanCrook/status/1142513686633840641
And those who wonder whether the humans are mocking them.
https://twitter.com/barefoot_cas/status/1142476073579323392
Perhaps the best are the people wondering whether or not the zoo just made a big mistake in revealing the protocol to the watching lions – perhaps they’re taking notes?
https://twitter.com/architek2ra/status/1142426910808395777
Any way you slice it, those lions are going to be a meme. They’re even less impressed than McKayla Maroney, which is some feat.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BB6cJvVqncu/
Animals are the best.
