Getty Image / Audu MARTE / AFP
A dam collapse in the Nigerian state of Borno caused catastrophic flooding that displaced an estimated 1 million residents. It also led to peculiar sights as zoo animals including crocodiles and ostriches were freed from the Sanda Kyarimi Park Zoo in order to survive the flooding and consequently they took over the streets and went viral with people posting videos on social media.
The northwestern portion of Africa has received abnormally high rain levels in recent weeks. Normally at this time of year, storms forming near the Cape Verdean islands off West Africa go on to form hurricanes that come across the Caribbean to the United States but this has been a particularly odd season. A combination of Eastern wind shear, shifting global atmospheric patterns, and unusually warm upper atmosphere temperatures appear to be the main contributors.
What that’s meant is areas like the Saharan Desert, one of the driest places on planet Earth, has received around 500% of its annual rainfall just in the month of August. Those same storms contributed to the Nigerian flooding which sent ostriches, snakes, crocodiles, and more animals into the city streets leading to viral videos across social media:
People were astonished to see an adult ostrich sauntering through city streets like it owned the place:
The Sanda Kyarimi Park Zoo is a 42-acre zoological garden and wildlife sanctuary located in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. It is one of the oldest zoological gardens in Nigeria, established in 1970.
The midnight flood has freed the animals ..
An ostrich seen on the street. pic.twitter.com/PypHa5po9T— Masu Zafi 🔥🔥 (@masuzafi) September 10, 2024
Crocodiles freed from the zoo have also been found and, sadly, the majority of the animals have been humanely euthanized. Photographs of one such crocodile was shared widely across social media.
According to reports, over 80% of the animals that were released from the zoo have been killed. The ostrich, however, was recovered by the zoo and returned safely.
Another video purported to show a lion running on the streets with terrified residents fleeing in every direction:
Just inn
A lion has just escaped from the zoo #MaiduguriFlood pic.twitter.com/q7CNwGawgs— Abba Abatcha (@Abatcha620) September 10, 2024
That is a daily fear of mine. I live half a mile from an exotic ‘rescue’ zoo similar to the one previously owned by Joe Exotic. They have tigers, lions, ligers, bears, and countless other creatures and if I’m outside early enough and the air is thin it sounds like these big cats are 10 feet behind me when they start roaring because the sound of their roar travels so clearly.
I really do fear for the day some protestors attempt to free them, or something like that, and stuck in my house in fear of lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) running around.
It really is a tragic event that most of these animals freed from the Sanda Kyarimi Park Zoo in Nigeria, freed in order to save their lives from the floods, were killed once they were freed. Hopefully the remaining animals can be rescued safely and returned to the zoo or a wildlife sanctuary.