[VIDEO] Lion Escapes from Circus and Is Now Roaming the Streets of Rome 

There’s an almost poetic quality to this story. Imagine a circus lion escaping and roaming the streets of Rome. It conjures up a majestic, 'Ancient Rome' vibe, doesn't it? That's exactly what happened recently when the King of the Jungle made a daring escape and became the emperor for a day

TMZ:

The jailbreak happened Saturday evening in the seaside town of Ladispoli -- where a traveling circus was passing through, and the big cat somehow got out of its cage and began roaming the streets, with a lot of eyewitnesses and cameras rolling.

Several bystanders captured video of the lion walking around residential neighborhoods ... casually cruising along sidewalks and in between parked cars, minding its own business.

Eventually, the circus owners and local vets were able to track it down and sedate it -- bringing it back to where it belonged -- and nobody was harmed while it was out and about.

Watch: 



So, how did the lion manage to escape in the first place? The owner of the circus suspects it was an 'inside job.' He believes someone deliberately opened the cage, allowing the lion to get out.