History Main / EscapedAnimalRampage

* ''Literature/{{Carnosaur}}: Dinosaurs cloned by a British aristocrat for his private zoo are released by his jealous wife, and rampage through the town of Cambridgeshire.

* Goerges Brassens, french singer, tells the story of an escaped gorilla in "Le Gorille". The narration is made funnier by the reason for his rampage being his [[AManIsNotAVirgin chastity]]. [[spoiler: He ends up kidnapping and [[DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale abusing]] a judge.]]

* During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the administrator of Tokyo, Shigeo Odachi, defied this trope by ordering all large and dangerous animals at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ueno_Zoo Ueno Zoo]] be killed in case an American bombing raid set them loose. Most were killed by poisoning, but the zoo's elephants were too big for the poison to take effect, and were starved to death.

* During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the administrator of Tokyo, Shigeo Odachi, tried to pre-emptively avert this by ordering all large and dangerous animals at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ueno_Zoo Ueno Zoo]] be killed in case an American bombing raid set them loose. Most were killed by poisoning, but the zoo's elephants were too big for the poison to take effect, and were starved to death.

* ''Zebra In The Kitchen'': A 1964 movie in which somebody lets all the zoo animals go free.

A popular trope in comedies and a subtrope of HilarityInZoos. An animal escapes from a zoo, a circus, a pound, a laboratory or some other kind of area where it formerly lived in restricted conditions. The creature might be dangerous, like a KillerGorilla, a lion, a {{bear|sAreBadNews}}, a tiger, a [[SavageWolves wolf]], a [[RhinoRampage rhinoceros]] or an elephant, or just something that might provide zany antics, like [[EverythingIsBetterWithMonkeys monkeys]], a kangaroo, a seal, etc. If there's more than one animal that escaped, they may go on an AnimalStampede.

* Creator/GeorgeOrwell [[http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/887/ wrote a short story based on a real life incident (which he was punished for, as the shooting was either accidental or out of malice), "Shooting an Elephant", about a time]] when an elephant escaped from a circus and rampaged through a town in India. They called him out to kill it. By the time he found it, its rampage was over and it was eating quietly in a field. However, the whole town was gathered round, so he shot it. It didn't die, so he shot it again. Still didn't die. Third shot did it. Well, it took another half hour to die, but it collapsed.

* ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'': One Carl Barks comic strip had Donald Duck's nephews walking around with a lucky rabbit's foot charm that actually brings good luck. When Donald hears that a dangerous gorilla escaped, he decides to turn the giant ape in, believing that he will be protected by the nephews' lucky device. Since he unfairly snatches it from them for the purpose, it doesn't work.

* This happened once due to Superbaby's desire for a pet, as shown on the cover of ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' #130 on [[http://www.superdickery.com Superdickery]] [[http://superdickery.com/images/stories/dick/614_4_130.jpg here]].

** ''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Volume 2]]'': When Hera knocks Themyscira out of the sky and destroys it's magical protections many of the, often incredibly dangerous, animals in their reserve and zoo escape and the Amazons have to recapture them to prevent many more deaths.

* ''Film/{{ZebraInTheKitchen}}'': A 1964 movie in which somebody lets all the zoo animals go free.

* ''Film/{{Zebra in the Kitchen}'': A 1964 movie in which somebody lets all the zoo animals go free.

* ''Film/KingKong'' (all versions that aren't set in the [[Film/KingKongSkullIsland ''Legendary'']] [[Film/GodzillaVsKong universe]]): After Kong arrives in New York City he is exhibited in a theater. When he escapes he terrorizes the city and... well, [[KingKongClimb you know the rest]].

* ''Film/KingKong'' (all versions): After Kong arrives in New York City he is exhibited in a theater. When he escapes he terrorizes the city and... well, [[KingKongClimb you know the rest]].

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': In "Cool Party", Curly goes crazy (again) after he's among those not invited to Rhonda's party, and acting on an impulse, frees all the animals from the zoo.
* ''WesternAnimation/PacMan'': In "Goo-Goo at the Zoo", Pac-Baby takes the zookeeper's keys and unlocks all of the cages. The newly liberated animals wreak havoc throughout Pacland and end up at Pac-Man's home.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mixels}}'': In the episode "Every Knight Has Its Day", Mixadel, in a fit of anger for being laughed at, decides to get revenge on the other students by releasing the Mixeloptors, monster-like Mixamals. They end up destroying the security control room, trapping the MCPD before they can corral them, and finally [[FusionDance Mega-Mixing]] into even ''more'' threatening monsters. It takes the combined Mixing powers of some of the students to finally reel them in at the end.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': [[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS01E16Animan Animan]], ([[Main/MonsterOfTheWeek the Akuma-target of the Week]]) lets a bunch of animals out of their cages, resulting in this.
** "Syren" opens with Ladybug and Chat Noir stopping one of these with the help of Rena Rouge, although it's implied to not have been caused by any supervillains this time.
* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': In the episode "Uncaged", Cricket and Tilly decide to free an orangutan from the zoo in an attempt to impress their mother Nancy. However, when messing around with the zoo's controls, they end up releasing ''all'' the animals, prompting them to turn to their mom for help.
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMeetsTheBooBrothers'': One of the many threats is a KillerGorilla who escapes from a wrecked circus train.

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* In ''Manga/{{Pluto}}'', Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion puts in a cameo appearance when the transport truck taking him to the zoo crashes. He tries to eat a little boy but is [[SpeaksFluentAnimal talked out of it]] by Manga/AstroBoy's sister, Uran.

* ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'':
** In "De Straatridder" ("The Street Knight") Lambik helps several zoo animals escape and hides them in Suske en Wiske's home.
** In "De Apekermis" ("The Monkey Fair") the apes in the local zoo become intelligent and decide to escape to take over the world. [[note]] This story was drawn way before the ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'' movies were made, though it may have been inspired by Pierre Boulle's novel of the same name. [[/note]].

* ''ComicBook/DeKiekeboes'': In ''Het Stokvis Incident'' (''The Case Stokvis'') Fanny saves a chimpanzee from a medical laboratory and keeps at her house. The animal then escapes from her room and goes to the neighbours where he climbs inside the bathroom and helps the unknowing woman of the house with scrubbing her back.

* ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'': In the album "Pànico en el zoo" all zoo animals escape and Mortadelo and Filemon have to catch them.

* In the 1932 Creator/LaurelAndHardy short ''The Chimp'', roustabouts Laurel and Hardy are laid off by a circus and given their "pay" in the form of Ethel, a huge ape. But while Ethel's getaway from the circus is legitimate, a fierce lion actually escapes, and frightens Laurel and Hardy while they try to introduce Ethel to their home.
* ''Film/TheLostWorld'': A ''Brontosaurus'' is brought to the city, escapes from his cage and goes out on a rampage.
** In the 1960 remake (which is very bad), the heroes find a baby ''[[KingOfTheDinosaurs Tyrannosaurus rex]]'' (actually [[{{slurpasaur}} a monitor lizard with plastic flippers]]) and announce their intent to bring it back to London, joking that it will likely be fully grown by then and go on a terrible rampage and destroy the city. We don't get to see that part, though, because [[EverybodyLaughsEnding the movie ends]].
* ''Film/KingKong'' (all versions): After Kong arrives in New York City he is exhibited in a theater. When he escapes he terrorizes the city and... well, [[KingKongClimb you know the rest]].
* ''Film/TheValleyOfGwangi'' plays out almost exactly like ''King Kong'' above. A gang of cowboys discover a LostWorld full of LivingDinosaurs, and get the bright idea to bring an ''allosaurus'' back to town to participate in the rodeo. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

* ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'': In this film a magical game board causes all kinds of animals to break loose from the game and rampage through town.
* Happened in a a Christian direct-to-video movie about a talking puppy named Spunky in the episode "Circus Adventure", where the circus animals break loose.

* ''Zebra in the Kitchen'': A 1964 movie in which somebody lets all the zoo animals go free.

* During the climax of ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'' an elephant escapes the Barnum and Bailey circus during the Draft Riots, though the city is so overcome by chaos the elephant rampaging down the street is only another small part of the madness the city has descended into.
* The final act of ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'' shows the titular Animal Wrongs Group releasing the animals of the local zoo, causing all sorts of pandemonium [[spoiler: and their "we did it!" message spray-painted all over the city setting them up as the RedHerring for the cause of TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]].
* In the second ''Film/TheNakedGun'' movie, Frank accidentally causes a break out at the zoo, and animals are seen running around in the background of some scenes. In the end, the Big Bad is dispatched by an escaped lion. This also leads to the following exchange:
--> '''Commissioner Anabell Brumford:''' Do you realize that because of you this city is being overrun by baboons?
--> '''Lt. Frank Drebin:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Well, isn't that the fault of the voters?]]
* The first of ''Film/TheGreenHornetSerials'': one episode dealt with the gangsters trying to take over a zoo. We see a tiger get loose due to sabotage, and it's indicated that this wasn't the first time.
* ''Film/GoodBurger'': The reason Heather was committed to Demented Hills was that, "Small space aliens landed in her head and told her to break into the zoo and free all the kangaroos."
* In ''Film/WeBoughtAZoo'', a bear escapes and wanders around in a town until the zookeepers capture him and take him back to his enclosure.
* ''Film/WhiteGod'': The last act of the film is a pack of escaped pound dogs rampaging through a city and attacking all of the humans who had wronged their leader.
* ''Film/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'': Newt Scamander carries a zoo full of the eponymous animals with him in his [[BagOfHolding magical suitcase]]. Unfortunately, the suitcase's security is quite lax, and following an involuntary SatchelSwitcheroo, some of the animals escape and cause trouble.
** A mundane version also occurs, after an erumpent (imagine a giant rhinoceros with an explosive horn) breaks into the Central Park Zoo looking for a mate, and most of the animals escape. The first sign the main characters have of this is when they see a lion walking casually down the street.

* In the novel version of ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', Scaramanga killed his first man in his backstory as a Circus Brat when he shot the policeman who shot his elephant friend who had went into an amok run.
* In ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'', James' parents were killed by a rhinoceros that broke out of London Zoo. [[AscendedToCarnivorism And ate them, apparently]].
* Subverted in ''Literature/LifeOfPi'': Early on he explains that most animals who escape zoos blend in with the outside very well, and cites an anecdote of a black panther who broke out and then was found months later in the woods feeding on deer. According to him, there are many other that have hidden themselves in the cities.
-->"If you took the city of Tokyo and turned it upside down and shook it, you would be amazed at the animals that would fall out. It would pour out more than cats and dogs, I tell you. Boa constrictors, Komodo dragons, crocodiles, piranhas, ostriches, wolves, lynx, wallabies, manatees, porcupines, orang-utans, wild boar -- that's the sort of rainfall you could expect to find."
* In the fifth ''Literature/WarriorCats'' book, a pack of dogs gets loose from the tree farm that they were being kept in to guard, and they end up living in the forest. While escaped dogs might not be the scariest thing to a human, they were a big threat to the cats living there.

* ''Court Martial'' by Creator/SvenHassel. [[TheSquad 2 Section]] have to get rid of a troublesome Gestapo agent who's blackmailing them. After a [[RasputinianDeath number of unsuccessful attempts]] have landed the Gestapo agent in hospital, Porta and the others decide to pay a friendly visit with a [[AnimalAssassin wildcat in a cage]]. Unfortunately the wildcat gets freed from its cage too early and proceeds to tear up the entire hospital.
** In ''O.G.P.U Prison'', Porta adopts a black panther called Ulrich, and there's a RunningGag of it giving heart attacks to everyone it meets. Ulrich just wants to play with them, but they don't know that.
* In ''Literature/TheLostWorld1912'', the explorers take a ''[[PteroSoarer pteranodon]]'' egg home with them, to present it in London as proof of their journey. By this point, the egg has hatched, and the young pterosaur escapes out a window and flies away, presumably trying to migrate back to the LostWorld. One character cheerfully suggests that it will die on the journey because [[DumbDinos it's dumb and clumsy]], which was - at the time the book was published - the prevailing theory about why most prehistoric life had gone extinct in the first place. Note that just about every adaptation of the story does something else with this sequence: see above under Film for the 1925 and 1960 versions and below under Live-Action TV for the 2001 version.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': A pack of wolves escape the London Zoo in the "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E10InTheForestOfTheNight In The Forest Of The Night]]" episode due to the sudden, explosive growth of forests and run rampant around central London. [[spoiler: A tiger also escaped and the wolves are far more afraid of it then any humans.]]
* In ''Series/TheLostWorld2001'', the explorers bring a ''[[PteroSoarer pteranodon]]'' egg back to London as [[BringItBackAlive proof of what they found]], but in the uproar of the crowd, the creature escapes out a window. This trope is averted as the final montage of the series shows the ''pteranodon'' peacefully making its way back home, successfully.
* ''Series/ACountryPractice'': A WeddingEpisode two-parter airing around 1988 had several goats escape from a pick-up truck following a near-miss. Most were recaptured, but one goat provided to be difficult, and a farmer attempts to tranquilize him. He accidently shoots the priest intending to minster the wedding, in the ''butt''. The goat makes it to a local pub and eats the wedding cake before finally being recaptured.

* Goerges Brassens, french singer, tells the story of an escaped gorilla in "Le Gorille". The narration is made funnier by the reason for his rampage being his [[AManIsNotAVirgin chastity]]. [[spoiler: He ends up kidnapping and [[DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale abusing]] a judge.]]

* ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame'': it's set during and right after the first movie, and they have to deal with the escaped dinosaurs frequently.
* On Corellia in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' the Coronet Zoo is damaged during the fighting and all the animals escape and start roaming around. As you arrive at the area, you overhear a man complaining about the "traumatizing" experience, but his daughter enjoyed getting so close to the animals and thought it was great. The game Codex says the rumors of a Rancor running loose are unconfirmed.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'': Early in the game, to get the manor key needed to enter Viper Manor, players must enter the dragon stables and complete a dragon-feeding minigame. Much later on, the party escapes the manor by busting through a stained-glass window and unleashing the dragons from the stables to trample the enemy soldiers.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird''
** Many of these cartoons have Hippety Hopper, a kangaroo, escaping from the zoo, causing Sylvester and his son [[RunningGag to think that he is actually a "giant" mouse]].
** One of these cartoons had a panther escape from the zoo, just as a Bully Bulldog is chasing Sylvester. HilarityEnsues when he mistakes the panther for Sylvester.

* In the very first episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheHuckleberryHoundShow'', Huck (as a police officer) is tasked with tracking down an escaped gorilla named Wee Willie.
** The episode "Huck and Ladder" has Huck (this time as a fireman) dealing with another escaped gorilla at a circus. Just when things can't get any more crazy, a lion escapes.
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'':
** The cartoon "Jerry and the Lion" has a lion escaping from the circus and Jerry desperately trying to keep him hidden from Tom. In the end he helps him get back on the boat to Africa.
** In "The Little Runaway", a baby seal escapes from the circus and hides with Jerry, while Tom tries to catch him for the reward.
** "Jerry and Jumbo" has a baby elephant falling off the circus train and ending up at Jerry and Tom's house. Jerry disguises him as a giant mouse to freak out Tom.
** In "Down Beat Bear", it's a circus bear who dances whenever he hears music. Every time Tom tries to report him, Jerry plays music and the bear makes Tom his unwilling dance partner.
** In "The Missing Mouse", a white lab mouse escapes after ingesting an experimental explosive. Jerry paints himself white and messes with Tom, but Tom eventually finds out... just as the real lab mouse appears.
* WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse. In "WesternAnimation/MickeyAndTheSeal" a baby seal escapes from the zoo and unknowingly to Mickey and Pluto travels along to their house.
* The cartoon "WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and the Gorilla" has an aggressive gorilla escaping from the local zoo and breaking into Donald's house, attacking him and his nephews.
* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons'': The cartoon "Terror on the Midway" features Superman attempting to stop the chaos created when several circus animals escape their cages and restraints, including a gorilla named Gigantic.

* This happens to Aang in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' in "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" when he sets free all the animals in the Ba Sing Se zoo. To be frank, the zookeeper wanted to move them to wider open spaces.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'': The first ''Madagascar'' movie is about a gang of zoo animals who escape in the city because one of them -- Marty the zebra -- is bored of his zoo life, and the others follow him. They are then re-captured and released into the wild.
* On the third of the ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldSpecials'', ''Garfield on the Rough'', an escaped panther stalks the woods where Jon, Garfield and Odie are camping.
* ''WesternAnimation/BeverlyHillsTeens'': A circus is released when Chester accidentally gets some cotton candy on the cage controls.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': [[Recap/MiraculousLadybugS01E16Animan Animan]] ([[Main/MonsterOfTheWeek the Akuma-target of the Week]]) lets a bunch of animals out of their cages, resulting in this.

** In the 1960 remake (which is very bad), the heroes find a baby TyrannosaurusRex (actually [[{{slurpasaur}} a monitor lizard with plastic flippers]]) and announce their intent to bring it back to London, joking that it will likely be fully grown by then and go on a terrible rampage and destroy the city. We don't get to see that part, though, because [[EverybodyLaughsEnding the movie ends]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'': One Carl Barks comic strip had Donald Duck walking around with a necklace that brings good luck. When he hears that a dangerous gorilla escaped he decides to turn the giant ape in, believing that he will be protected by his lucky device. It doesn't work.

The animals may have escaped to due the zoo being a MenagerieOfMisery. See also AnimalStampede when enough escaped animals rampage at once.

* ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968'': A funny inversion occurs when Taylor the human escapes from a medical lab where apes do experiments on humans and runs amok, scaring the innocent residents of Ape City.

* ''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes'': Apes escape from their own facility and release other apes from a zoo to create an army, before disappearing into the forests.

** In "De Apekermis" ("The Monkey Fair") the apes in the local zoo become intelligent and decide to escape to take over the world. [[note]] This story was drawn way before the ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes'' movies were made, though it may have been inspired by Pierre Boulle's novel of the same name. [[/note]].

See also AnimalStampede when enough escaped animals rampage at once.

* ''Film/TheLostWorld'': A ''Brontosaurus'' is brough to the city, escapes from his cage and goes out on a rampage.

* ''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Wonder Woman Vol 2]]'': When Hera knocks Themyscira out of the sky and destroys it's magical protections many of the, often incredibly dangerous, animals in their reserve and zoo escape and the Amazons have to recapture them to prevent many more deaths.