SOURCE OF PRIDE

WATCH: Zoo Security Camera Captures How Lions Escaped Enclosure

The zoo was put on lockdown when five big cats got free earlier this month.

Staff and visitors at a zoo in Australia were ordered to seek shelter earlier this month when five lions mysteriously managed to escape from their enclosure. Now security camera footage from the Taronga zoo in Sydney shows how the man-eaters made their great escape. The four cubs and adult male cats can be seen clawing at the enclosure fence before finding room to crawl under, allowing them to walk free. A “code one” alert was raised at the zoo during the breakout in early November, with staff and visitors urged to take shelter until the big cats were rounded up. The images released Thursday show the escaped lions remaining near the fence before eventually returning to the enclosure of their own volition. One of the cubs had to be tranquilized by the zoo’s emergency response team and returned to to the den later. No park staff or visitors were injured during the escape. One lioness, Maya, opted to stay the whole time as other members of the pride bolted.