Thai zoo's drill has ‘ostrich’ on the run
The photos may look like a hoot, though the bird involved can do a lot more damage than an owl.
And it’s no joke, really.
The Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand held a drill for its staff.
On what to do if an ostrich escapes its enclosure.
To make it realistic - of course - someone dressed up as the large flightless bird.
Staff pursued him, captured him and led him away, with a net that is apparently used in such an operation.
In one picture they can be seen looking triumphant, though to their credit, they didn’t have a shot with the ‘bird’ floored and the rest of them posing around it.
It is a zoo after all, not a hunting lodge.
Ostriches can be dangerous. They can land a lethal kick.
And they can run up to 70kmh, nearly twice the speed of humans at their fastest. So it wouldn't be easy to simulate that - especially in that suit.
Such exercises are not unknown at zoos.
The same zoo has done it before for other creatures, including once with someone simulating a kangaroo - with boxing gloves on - attacking a man on the ground, Mothership reported.
The website also linked to a report from 2019, about such an exercise at a zoo in Japan.
This one had someone in a lion suit, and actual lions looking totally unimpressed.
A video of this is still available on Twitter and here it is.
Tobe Zoo in Aichi conducted a lion escape drill today.
— Spoon & Tamago (@Johnny_suputama) June 22, 2019
Note the expression on the actual lions faces.
pic.twitter.com/azuJYQhLCw
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