Bears raid honey store after enclosure escape

Two bears who sparked the evacuation of a wildlife park involving trained firearms staff and police had headed straight for the honey store, the park has said.

Wildwood Devon, a conservation charity near Exeter, said European brown bears Mish and Lucy made their way to the food store after breaking free - and then consumed a "week's worth of honey".

The park was evacuated after the alarm was raised at about 15:00 BST on Monday - 16 people including children were locked into a play barn for their safety.

Mark Habben, director of zoological operations at Wildwood Trust, said emergency procedures were deployed and the public was "not in harm's way".

The trust has now launched an investigation into how the pair of "young bears", weighing about 180kg (397lb) each, escaped as there were no signs of enclosure damage, it said.

Mr Habben said: "Both bears are extremely happy. The team were very, very calm, as were the bears at all points.

"The public were not in harm's way, emergency procedures and everyone did the job they were intended to do."

Mr Habben said a "code red" was called after the bears were spotted by senior staff after they "breached" the enclosure and made their way to a staff area at about 15:00 BST on Monday.

He said: "They were in an area where we keep enrichment - all the nice things.

"The bears had a feast, played around, pulled some rope out."

He said the code red is a "category one emergency procedure" which leads to park evacuation and lock down.

He said the park's emergency team was deployed, including those trained in firearms, while police were notified and arrived on site to "support the team on the ground".

Mr Habben said staff monitored the bears on CCTV and they "remained very calm throughout", not breaching any public areas, choosing instead to remain at the back of the bear house.

"They were wandering up and down, having a sniff around, looking in the store cupboard where honey was stored.

"That was fortuitously left open, so they raided that."

Jon Forde, head of bears at Wildwood Trust, said he was "very surprised" by the incident.

He said: "We work very hard to make sure these things don't happen.

"We've been looking after bears for the last decade and never had an escape before so it's not a common thing or something we ever want to ever happen again."

However, Mr Forde said he was not surprised by what the bears got up to.

He said: "Bears are very typical. They'll go for the nearest sort of sweet source of food - any honey, peanut butter, jam, anything like that they absolutely love.

"They've got this great sense of smell, they'll just find things out, even if you hide them. They'll find them out and they'll make sure they have them."

Mish eventually made her own way back to the enclosure and Lucy was lured back with a bell and her favourite foods.

He described the pair, who were rescued from a snow drift in Albania in 2019, as "extremely charismatic and resilient".

The trust said it had built a reputation for working with European brown bears.

Mr Habben said this was the first time an escape incident had taken place at the park and an investigation was now under way as to how the breach occurred.

Another brown bear that was set to be killed in Sweden and travelled to England by Eurotunnel, was resident at the trust before being transferred to a park in Ipswich.

On social media, Wildwood Devon added: "The exhibit is secure, and we are grateful to our staff and visitors for their cooperation, which helped us resolve the situation swiftly and safely."

The park opened as usual earlier.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, European brown bears can grow up to 6.5ft (1.9m) and weigh up to 1,500lbs (680kg), are able to stand on two legs and communicate through scratch marks on trees.

Some of the largest living carnivores, brown bears have fallen prey to hunting and other conflicts with humans and there are thought to be up to 110,000 in the world.

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