Michael Jackson's elephant, searching for snack, escapes Jacksonville zoo

Ali the elephant enjoyed several treats from his habitat at the Jacksonville zoo Monday, the day after he made a brief escape.

Ali came to the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens in 1997 from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.

The 28-year-old African bull elephant wandered through a gate left open at his holding yard Sunday.

"Ali took a few steps out through an open gate and started eating some trees there," Dan Maloney said. "Fortunately he wasn’t inclined to want to go anywhere else."

Maloney, deputy zoo director, said zookeepers noticed he wasn't where he was supposed to be and issued a code red.

He said zoo guests were never in danger because a fence separates the public part of the zoo from where Ali was.

The train was halted and the giraffe overlook was evacuated for guests' safety.

Zookeepers showed Action News Jax what they did to get Ali back into his holding yard.

"We were talking to him. The staff also had treats for him," Maloney said. "Elephants are really smart and understand commands."

It took keepers just 20 minutes to coax him back behind the fence.

Maloney said the zoo trains for situations such as animal escapes several times per year.

"When you're dealing with animals there's always unpredictability involved," he said. "Fortunately, animals don’t typically get to where they're not supposed to be. That’s a very rare and infrequent occurrence."

Maloney said Ali was enjoying himself in the yard Monday,

Cox Media Group