Staff at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo have carried out a drill, in which they battle with a giant papier mâché rhino.
As the rhino, controlled by two workers hidden inside, slowly plodded through the park and tried to make a break for freedom, staff and local cops went through the motions of dealing with the ‘danger’.
The life-sized model even attacked keepers, prompting staff to use sticks on the rhino with sticks in order to rescue their co-workers.
Bemused visitors were cleared from the animal’s path, but many stayed to watch the fake animal meander through the park.
Eventually, keepers managed to tranquillise and capture it the beast – but it was touch and go for quite some time.
The drills are an annual event at Tokyo zoos, in preparation for animal break-outs in the wake of potential disasters such as earthquakes.
Simpler costumes are sometimes used, but the zoo’s director explained that the more realistic papier mâché rhino was used this year for its ‘impact’.
