Bears Escape Wildlife Park and Go on a Rampage that Would Make Winnie-the-Pooh Proud
Mish and Lucy, two European brown bears, gobbled down an impressive amount of honey during their brief escape
Wildwood Devon/Facebook
Lucy, one of the European brown bears that escaped the enclosure at Wildwood Devon.
On June 23, Mish and Lucy, two European brown bears from the U.K. wildlife park Wildwood Devon, escaped from their enclosure in the afternoon, the park shared on Facebook.
While the bears managed to bust out of their habitat, they weren’t too concerned about leaving the park. Mish and Lucy left their enclosures and beelined for the park’s food storage area, where the animals gobbled seven days’ worth of honey in one sitting.
Wildwood Devon shared footage of Lucy “caught red-handed” while raiding the food store and confirmed that both bears promptly passed out after their snack attack.
After their escapades, the bear pair returned to their enclosure with the help of an expert keeper. Police responded to the scene, and an early investigation discovered an “operational error” led to the bear’s breakout and binge, per Wildwood Devon’s June 24 update.
“As a precaution, all visitors on site were promptly escorted to a secure building,” the park’s first post about the duo’s escape read. “The bears were continuously monitored both on the ground and via CCTV until they calmly returned to their enclosure and fell asleep.”
The update post added that park staff followed established safety protocols and put into practice their recall training to coax the bears back into the enclosure.
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Despite the bears’ lighthearted adventures, the wildlife park recognized the severity of the situation. Wildwood Devon is presently investigating how the operational error occurred and how it can be prevented in the future.
“While the structural integrity of the bear enclosure remains uncompromised, we take any operational lapse extremely seriously,” the park’s update post read, adding that “animal care, visitor safety, and transparency” are the park’s priorities.