The Philadelphia zebras … and six great animal escapes of the Victorian era

There’s nothing better than a chase sequence, especially when animals are involved. Recently, social media was gripped by two zebras who escaped from a Philadelphia circus. The local police have caught the two rogue circus performers.

Today, escapes of exotic animals are rare and often end happily. In the 19th century, when traveling circuses and menageries toured Britain and the US, such escapes were more common. From the late 18th century, traveling menageries brought exotic animals to the doorsteps of the poorest of society. The safety of the animals was not considered a priority by exhibitors. It wasn’t uncommon to find a tiger or an orangutan roaming around in the streets or your home.

Like today, newspapers at the time were enthralled by these stories, revealing the terror of a predator in action. Here are six of the most famous animal escapes during the Victorian era, based on these (sometimes not entirely reliable) accounts.

Ghostly ape

In 1821, “a nocturnal appearance” killed a man on the Rue de Monnaie of Paris. The “apparition,” in fact, a “large monkey,” had escaped a nearby menagerie. The “apparition” had “groped its way” along the roofs and “descended” through one of the fireplaces into the victim’s bedroom. This caused the man to pass out from fear. This story is eerily similar to Edgar Allen Poe’s famous detective tale, Murders in Rue Morgue 1841, in which two women were brutally murdered in the Rue Morgue by an orangutan.

The Highway Tiger

In 1857, a tigress who had escaped from Charles Jamrach’s exotic animals business on Ratcliff Highway was responsible for one of the most famous attacks by a wild animal. A young boy “started patting” the animal as it skulked along the road. He thought she was a large dog. The tigress reacted by grabbing the boy’s shoulders.

If Mr Jamrach hadn’t rescued him by hitting the beast with a crowbar, she would have likely killed the child. The boy recovered physically from his injuries, despite being “frightfully mauled,” but showed signs of psychological trauma. Birmingham Daily Post reported he then behaved “in an odd manner” at school and even bit his brother in bed, believing he was a tiger.

The Grimsby Bear

A bear escaped from its den in Wombwell’s Menagerie and terrorized the residents of Grimsby, Lincolnshire. The bear had ripped up loose floorboards to escape its den at Wombwell Menagerie. The bear then began to wander the streets, where it had been spotted and reported by a local fishing man. The local constable was sent to assess the situation, but when he saw the bear, he became frightened and ran back to the owner of the Menagerie.

The bear was chased now by the keepers and the onlookers. He wandered into Grimsby’s center, mauled a dog, then hopped in the back of the shop and climbed through the window to the kitchen of Mr. Rubenstein, who, with his wife, was sleeping upstairs. After a skirmish, the bear was forced out of the house through the front door. It then marched to the Menagerie.

The drunken elephant

You’d assume it would be hard to lose an animal. Batty’s Menagerie visited Holyhead in Wales, and the elephant was “safely lodged” in a stable near the George Hotel. After the performance on a Wednesday night, the elephant of the Menagerie was “safely lodged” in a nearby stable, and the Menagerie left the area for the evening. The next morning, the keeper found, “to his great surprise,” that the elephant had vanished. The elephant was not found despite a frantic search. It was found “lying fast sleeping in a hotel wine cellar,” surrounded by empty bottles of red wine, by the afternoon.

The stampeding rhino

Menagerie accidents are no exception. They’re always more dramatic. In 1872, while being led into the menagerie ring by Warner and Co. in Red Bird, Illinois, an elephant suddenly threw its head up and ran away from the men. The rhinoceros rampaged throughout the show, trampling a keeper and then goring another in the stomach, “ripping out his bowels, killing him right there.”

The rhinoceros, still bursting with energy, stampeded toward a row of seats to one side of the tent and broke the arm of an audience member. The rhinoceros knocked over a pole at the center of the Menagerie. It then romped through a small museum and rushed into the street. The rhino was finally caught outside an empty house. Damage to the circus is estimated at $3,000

The sewer lion

In 1889, a large lion broke out of its cage to take refuge in Birmingham’s sewers. As the news spread, panic gripped the community. This fear was intensified when the lion stopped at each maintenance hole it came across and roared. Frank Bostock, a lion trainer, managed to capture the lion and reassure the public.

He confessed to the authorities the next day and asked 500 police officers to assist him in capturing the beast. Bostock and his men hunted the lion in the sewer with police officers at every maintenance hole. They cornered the animal and secured him with ropes. The Graphic published an illustration depicting a lion looking like it was trying to escape from a tent.

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