It’s pretty well known that the city of Waterloo is fairly boring. If you ever find yourself with nothing to do on a nice day, I’d suggest checking out the Waterloo Park petting zoo known as Eby Farmstead. In the summertime, the park is home to alpacas, deer, peacocks, sheep, pygmy goats, pot belly pigs, and more, and although most of the animals move to warmer homes in the wintertime, some of the animals stay year-round in their little huts. Like most zoos, I think the Eby Farmstead is a great place for the public to learn about exotic animals and their natural habitats. If you have even more time and feel like taking a trip to Toronto, the Toronto Zoo is even more impressive, with pandas, giraffes, tigers, penguins, and all sorts of other animals from all over the world.
Fortunately for the good people of Kitchener-Waterloo, it doesn’t seem like any of the Eby Farmstead animals have ever escaped their enclosures. Animal adventures just don’t seem to be big in K-W, with the exception of that deer that jumped through a Tim Hortons window on Victoria Street last year. Other cities, on the other hand, have their fair share of escaped animal stories – here are a couple of them.
Road Trippin’ in BC
A macaw in Vancouver decided to go on a short-lived road trip back in 2009. Chuva the macaw, despite having her wings clipped, managed to escape the zoo, waddle over to the parking lot, and hitch a ride on an RV. She was found three days later, about 20 miles away, hanging out near the RV’s engine.
Finding Love in Texas
An African flamingo from the Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas, known as No. 492, escaped in 2005. Over the years, 492 was spotted all over the States, in places such as Wisconsin, Louisiana, and eventually Texas. When spotted in 2013, 492 appeared to have found a mate in Texas and was loving life.
The Best Escape Artist Since Houdini… is an Orangutan?
Some animals are more persistent at their escape attempts than others. Ken Allen, an orangutan from the San Diego Zoo, attained fame in the 1980’s by successfully escaping from his enclosure five times. Though a “Free Ken Allen” campaign was started, the zoo instead capitalized on the orangutan’s fame by selling plenty of Ken Allen merchandise.
Bonnie and Clyde, Two Toronto Fugitives on the Run
You’ve probably heard of the famous duo Bonnie and Clyde, whether it be the Depression-era gangsters, or the pair of capybaras that escaped from the High Park Zoo in Toronto last year. One of the capybaras was on the run for two weeks, whereas the other managed to escape zoo authorities for more than a month before being caught. Earlier this year in May, Bonnie and Clyde added three new “capybabies” to their family.
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