Judging by the number of animals that managed to escape over the years, it's really little wonder that Glasgow Zoo is no more.
Looking back through the archives, we've stories of all manner of 'inmates' fleeing their confines from the city's old zoological gardens on the Calderpark Estate.
Prior to the zoo's closure - amid allegations of animal cruelty and deteriorating enclosure conditions - in 2003, there were dramatic escapes involving everything from wander lusting elephants and tigers to 'rampaging' raccoons and even kangaroos. Let's take a closer look at the ones that made headlines back in the day.
READ MORE: Eerie YouTube video takes us round Glasgow's abandoned Calderpark Zoo
Elephant released a camel
They say an elephant never forgets, but there's one elephant in particular that will forever be remembered in Glasgow.
Carnage ensued in 1948, when Freda, Calderpark Zoo's legendary resident elephant, escaped her enclosure and staged a 'prison break'.
It was reported that in the early hours of July 6, the wily pachyderm burst out of the elephant house then - incredibly - proceeded to release a camel from an adjoining enclosure.
Freda and her hump-backed accomplice were eventually rounded up “without difficulty” - but not before the elephant hoovered up a fortnight’s ration of bran and ate a keeper’s oilskin coat.
Skippy skips roll call
Keepers were stunned in late August 1947 when a pair of kangaroos successfully managed to force their way (down) under their wire enclosure.
Following an extensive search, one of the antipodean twosome was found by police bounding around a field at Mount Vernon - a mile away from Calderpark. The second kangaroo was found wandering the zoo grounds.
The incident is notable as having been the first reported escape from Calderpark Zoo after it opened in 1947.
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Tiger mauls keeper
One of the more shocking and deadly escape incidents occurred in 1949, when a fully-grown Bengal tigress named Sheila escaped her enclosure and mauled the head keeper.
While he suffered multiple serious injuries, the life of keeper John Duffy was narrowly saved when Glasgow Zoo gardener Alex Innes attacked Sheila with a shovel. Shortly afterwards, Sheila, sadly, was shot dead.
Deer's day out
A red hind escaped Calderpark Zoo in 1957 and explored nearby Baillieston. Bambi was later recaptured after being found more than a mile-and-a-half away.
Raccoon on the run
A raccoon managed to outsmart Glasgow Zoo keepers in March 1951. The canny creature spent weeks rummaging the dustbins of Baillieston and Uddingston, and, despite being spotted "on the rampage" in the back gardens of Birkenshaw, was never recaptured.
The American animal not only managed to escape its enclosure, but also a deadly anthrax outbreak that had killed ten of its kindred at Calderpark.
Otter’s visit to Bellshill
A local police constable did a double-take as he spotted an otter scurrying past the Airdrie Savings Bank in Bellshill at 2am on May 22, 1951.
Calderpark Zoo was informed, and, lacking an otter, the keepers were delighted that the animal had been found.
The celebrations would be brief, however, as the otter thought he ‘otter’ be somewhere else and escaped again that very day.
