Bears escape wildlife park enclosure and feast on week's worth of honey
Mish and Lucy, two 5-year-old European brown bears, sneaked out of their enclosure at wildlife park Wildwood Devon in southwest England Monday afternoon and headed straight for a staff-only food storage area, according to Facebook posts from Wildwood Devon.
There, the duo feasted on a "selection of snacks — including a week's worth of honey," as noted in one of the social media posts.
The two bears were not a threat to the public during their escape, but all park visitors were moved into a secure building as a safety precaution. Mish and Lucy were then monitored through surveillance footage and on the ground until they made their way back to their enclosure, Wildwood Devon wrote.
"Here's footage of Lucy caught red-handed, looking very pleased with herself after filling up in the food store, and both bears passed out afterward," the wildlife park said on Facebook.
Wildwood Devon said the incident, which prompted a police response, was the result of an "operational error." The wildlife park is now conducting a full internal investigation to determine how the bears escaped to prevent a similar incident from happening again.
"While the structural integrity of the bear enclosure remains uncompromised, we take any operational lapse extremely seriously," Wildwood Devon wrote. "We remain fully committed to the highest standards of animal care, visitor safety and transparency."
Wildwood Devon, located on 40 acres of woodland and gardens in Devon, England, is home to a range of animals, including foxes, wolves, red squirrels and bears.
In 2023, an Andean bear escaped from his enclosure at the St. Louis Zoo twice in one month. In one of his escapes, the bear managed to break out by tearing apart clips holding stainless steel mesh to the frame of the enclosure's door.
Wildwood Devon and Devon and Cornwall Police did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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