A "lion" escaped its enclosure at the Tobe Zoological Park in Ehime prefecture, Japan on June 22, 2019.

As zoo staff surrounded the creature, the scene elicited more smiles and raised eyebrows than screams of horror.

The escaped animal was an actor in a lion costume, and the zoo was simply conducting a drill.

A rather humourous escape drill

The zoo in Tobe was carrying out counter-measures and safety procedures in the event an earthquake resulted in the escape of one of its resident lions.

Funnily enough, this involved a human dressed up in a furry onesie and cartoonish lion mascot head.

With some rather questionable acting skills, the actor proceeds to mimic the actions of an escaped predator.

A video of the hilarious incident, originally posted on Japanese online news site Mainichi, was reposted on Twitter by user Spoon and Tamago, or @Johnny_suputama.

The video has since become hugely viral, racking up 4.73 million views on Twitter and over 36,000 retweets.

Tobe Zoo in Aichi conducted a lion escape drill today.

Note the expression on the actual lions faces.
pic.twitter.com/azuJYQhLCw

— Spoon & Tamago (@Johnny_suputama) June 22, 2019

Questionable acting

For added realism, zoo staff dressed in blue overalls and white helmets can be seen herding visitors to one side, while other staff corral and contain the escapee "lion".

The "lion" hesitates and wanders about looking lost, before charging towards one worker and knocking him to the floor.

The video then cuts to the fake creature in front of a white van with staff within.

One staff aims a gun out of the window and pretends to shoot at the "lion".

In an Oscar-worthy moment, the actor slowly and melodramatically crumbles to the ground, appearing to have been tranquillised.

Actual lions look super unimpressed

Meanwhile, the scene is being observed rather sceptically by actual lions in the nearby enclosure.

These were what their faces looked like.

The person filming the video took much care zooming into the animals' reactions.

Not that unusual

According to CNN, the zoo added on its Facebook page that such drills occur every year.

However, this was apparently the first time it had been held while the park was open.

This isn't exactly an unconventional tradition either.

Other zoos in Japan like Ueno Zoological Gardens and Tama Zoological Park, both in Tokyo, have conducted escape drills with various animal costumes.

Here's an image compiling the many costumes both zoos have used, for your amusement.

Funny.

You can watch the full video in English here:

Real lions not amused but they watching & learning pic.twitter.com/mp3nin7hQK

— Mothership.sg (@MothershipSG) June 26, 2019

Top photo from @Johnny_suputama