Tokyo zoo stages fake snow leopard escape

Couldn't the "snow leopard" have "maimed" a "costumed mascot" instead?

I'm pretty sure this guy was a lot easier to catch than a real snow leopard.

Are you serious?

Practice makes perfect. Japan does have a lot of training programs which I think is great. In the USA it would be everyone for themselves and take out your guns.

Only in Japan.

"Visitors at Tama Zoological Park were able to witness the drama unfold..."

That scene in the photo certainly looks dramatic.

Why does this ridiculous activity get into the news EACH year?

I bet they couldn't catch a cold... much less a big cat!

Practice makes perfect. Japan does have a lot of training programs which I think is great. In the USA it would be everyone for themselves and take out your guns.

How do you know this? Everything is not just "shoot first and ask questions later" in the US. Having had to work with various Japanese governmental organizations, I can tell you that from the training, it is all canned and at the end the "good guys" will win, using the same scenarios. Not trying to throw new things in leads to complacency. I am sure that the training records at Fukashima can be shown to be documented as passing with flying colors.

But, still this is a good thing that they are doing and I hope that it never happens and if it does they don't forget their training.

Hahahaha, am I the only one who finds this hilarious? Kudos to everyone involved who did this with a straight face though!

I'm pretty sure this guy was a lot easier to catch than a real snow leopard.

Certainly far bigger, slower, and less agile and elusive.

More public humiliation please!

"Visitors at Tama Zoological Park were able to witness the drama unfold..."

I think the word the author was looking for was 'comedy', not 'drama'.

Is that a real leopard ? I couldn't tell.

man, you guys must live a miserable life if you have to leave usual grumpy comments instead of laughing at this

orangutan

I'm sure this one was the most "realistic" !

I don't know about other places of work, but mine is pretty humourless apart from the odd knob/boobie joke. A bit of fun is a good thing while training and the visitors probably enjoyed it. Maybe it's just me but I think professional zoo keepers may have an inking that a man in costume isn't as quick and agile as a big cat.

Strangely this is standard procedure.

A drill at a Spanish zoo went horribly wrong as one veterinarian was unaware that the gorilla on the loose was in fact an employee wearing a suit

http://time.com/2825702/zookeeper-gorilla-suit-loro-parque/

Oh I LOVE the zoo drills! Never let it be said that the Japanese can't have a good giggle at themselves!

That costume doesn't look very snow leopard authentic! I'd like to see the employee being dressed in a Godzilla costume and rampaging through the zoo.

Humbly, the realism, breathtakingly so, has to be worthy of an accolade to reflect the disguised zoo keeper astonishing dramatic abilities to mimic in all honesty a highly dangerous predator. This deserves nothing less than a Golden Global. To this effect, no less than George Clooney has agreed his Cecil B. DeMille Award should be a fittingly bestowed to zoo director Yutaka Fukuda with a special new category for best supporting employee in a dramatic zoological re-enactment for “snow leopard” . Terrifying but fully warranted public safety must come first ..........

http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/feb/10/japan-zoo-stages-escape-snow-leopard-video

It can't hurt, and if they want to have fun with it, good. So long as they don't actually think it qualifies them for the real deal, if and when that happens, and they take the utmost care and treat all animals and the tools to catch and keep them with the utmost respect (the latter when using).

Gotta catch 'em all!

This is great! I look forward to it every year! It's much better than anything on Japanese TV! It's extra amusing this year because a real snow leopard would have torn straight through that net and torn the throat out of the handler that was supposed to be having a heart attack. They had a silver back gorilla a couple of years ago, which also would have torn the handler's face off. You'll find all the full videos on YouTube from passed years. They are extremely entertaining!

This story even made the papers here in London, the other photo of them throwing a net over their captive was also quite amusing.

Wonder how they decide who will wear the animal costume each year. Rock, paper, scissors or is it a form of punishment maybe?!

Unfortunately, zookeepers forget to use fake tranquilizer...

It's good that they're practicing animal escapes. They need the practice! Remember the penguin in Tokyo who thwarted attempts to capture it for over two months?

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/japan-escaped-penguin-337-caught-tokyo

NathalieBFEB. 11, 2015 - 02:27PM JST Oh I LOVE the zoo drills! Never let it be said that the Japanese can't have a good giggle at themselves!

Except that they aren't doing this as a "good giggle." This is what passes as serious training.

Cute costume!

It doubles as promotion. Look at how much public awareness they garner.

A regular drill, nobody would care.

A similar simulation is conducted each year at alternating zoos across Tokyo to remind staff members what to do in the event of a real animal escape. "In the event of a big earthquake, a tree could fall on a cage, or many other things could occur that may lead to an animal escape," said zoo director Yutaka Fukuda. "We think it is very important, and it is our responsibility to carry it out with seriousness."

Sounds like the Ueno zoo story during the War all over again. In preparation for the likelihood of allied bombing of Tokyo, the kempeitai ordered the zoo to kill dozens of animals (by means of strangulation shooting and starvation) in order to protect people from escaping animals in the event of bombs landing in the zoo. Oddly, the likelihood that any animal cage being hit by bomb would almost certainly kill the animal in question did not seem to enter their minds.

@Bob

London Zoo did exactly the same with all its venomous animals.

Not much concern for animal rights in wartime : (

LMFAO like the leopard is going to sit still while you wrap a rope around its neck. there a lot stronger than these fools realise