"The risk to the public of trying to sedate the lion was simply too high as the sedative takes too long too kick in and this would have put everyone at risk," owner Kerri Bayford wrote on the zoo's page.
Bayford blamed "human error" for why the lion was able to leave its enclosure. She also said the zoo is reviewing conditions for the large carnivore exhibits "to ensure that an incident such as this will not happen again."
A big cat has made it out of Papanack Zoo on at least one other occasion: In 2005 a tiger escaped.