'I came face to face with Jason the lion when he jumped to freedom'

It happened in Sunderland 50 years ago this week.

A few hours of roaming

Jason the lion cub didn’t like the look of the bone offered him for his dinner so he jumped from his cage at Seaburn and enjoyed a few hours of freedom roaming the zoo park.

Police and fire brigade officers stood by while lion experts tried to catch him in February 1975.

Richard Howard and his son, John, from Lambton Lion Park, stood by to tranquillise the cub.

A beef dinner before a nap

But after a first attempt, two more darts were needed before Jason quietened down.

Attempts to corner him with nooses and lead him back to his cage failed.

Even when the drugs made him unsteady on his feet, Jason managed to avoid capture.

Eventually, however, he lay down and went to sleep before being carried back to his cage.

Making a leap for freedom

Patrick Collins, co-director of the company running the zoo, said that Jason was hand reared.

“He can be led around and is quite used to being handled. The trouble was that he wasn’t wearing his collar and so there was no means of bringing him back.”

John Bainbridge, manager of the zoo, said he had gone into the cage to feed Jason and the lioness, which had mothered him since he was two-months-old, when the cub made his leap for freedom.

During his few hours of roaming, Jason took a good look round but our photos show that the Canadian geese were a touch wary about his presence.

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