Escaped alpacas seen exploring Cedar Point are not park’s first animal fugitives
A trio of alpacas that escaped their enclosure at Cedar Point are not the first animals to break free at the Ohio theme park.
“I think it’s time to retire the Cedar Point petting farm,” said Laura Steuk-Mastropaolo, who posted video to Facebook of the May 9 incident in Sandusky.
Steuk-Mastropaolo appeared to be on the park’s train as the three alpacas came trotting toward her. A couple of park workers weren’t far behind.
“I am used to herds of animals but not alpacas,” Steuk-Mastropaolo told the Akron Beacon Journal. “Ironically, we run a therapeutic horsemanship program near Sandusky (the Boots to Grasses Therapeutic Horsemanship Program) so seeing animals that were not horses come cantering toward us was even funnier.”
The alpacas, who were captured and returned to their enclosure, had escaped when a third-party worker left their pen unlocked while cleaning, according to WEWS.
The animals belong to The Barnyard, an area in the park that has already seen other escapes.
In 2024, two camels escaped from the same enclosure and approached park visitors before they were returned, according to Cleveland.com.
“They were coming straight at you, and the next thing we were worried about was just getting out of the way. We picked up my little sister, put her over the railing, and me and my dad followed suit,” Justin Garcia told WEWS.
Days later, a video taken by a TikTok user showed a herd of goats had broken out of their pen.
The June incidents led the U.S. Department of Agriculture to cite the Kentucky-based operator of the petting zoo. The USDA found the operator mishandled the animals, with a section of the fencing shown to be “in disrepair.”
PETA — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — has called for Cedar Point to close its animal displays. The organization says keeping animals at theme parks is inhumane, also noting that petting zoos have been “hotbeds of disease.”
Cedar Point is in Sandusky, about a 60-mile drive west from Cleveland.
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Escaped alpacas seen exploring Cedar Point are not park’s first animal fugitives."