Visitors to Tokyo Zoo look on bemusedly as a leopard ran amok on its hind legs recently.

Neither the African nor the snow kind, this leopard was in fact a man wearing an oversized costume, and so was no cause for fright.

The leopard was part of a safety drill for zoo workers to practice containing escaped animals. 

A video shows the 'animal' being surrounded by large nets, pouncing and 'injuring' one worker, before eventually being 'shot' with a tranquillizer dart and poked in the head with a stick.

It may seem like a sinister twist on a Disneyland performance, but if it keeps visitors safe...