Bears get paws on the honey in UK wildlife park escape
LONDON: Two young bears escaped from their enclosure at a UK wildlife park and devoured a week’s worth of food store honey before falling asleep, the attraction said on Tuesday.
Mish and Lucy, both aged four, got out of their enclosure at Wildwood Devon in southwestern England on Monday afternoon.
The pair made a beeline for their food store where they scoffed snack’s including the seven-day supply of honey, a park statement said.
The bears “posed no threat to the public at any point” although visitors on site were escorted to a secure building as a precaution.During the hour-long drama, the bears were “continuously monitored both on the ground and via CCTV” until they were returned to their enclosure by keepers and promptly “fell asleep”, Wildwood added.
Police attended the scene and an investigation was underway to determine how the animals managed to break out, it said.
The park spread across 40 acres (160 hectares) of gardens and woodland is home to an array of wildlife including brown bears, wolves and arctic foxes.
Separately, a Himalayan brown bear that ventured into Gudai village of Astore district of Gilgit-Baltistan in October 2024 had mysteriously evaded surveillance by the wildlife department, leaving local officials scrambling to locate the animal.
The bear, which entered the village near a ravine, caused a stir among residents as it wandered close to a house.
During its time in the area, it reportedly killed dozens of hens and attacked a local, who fortunately escaped without injury.
Upon receiving reports of the bear’s presence, officials from the police and the wildlife department rushed to the scene and urged the locals to retreat to safety.
The officials decided to keep the bear under surveillance, intending to guide it back towards the Deosai National Park under the cover of night.
However, in a surprising turn of events, the bear managed to evade their watch, disappearing into the wilderness, leaving the wildlife officials to follow its tracks in hopes of tracing its whereabouts.
The incident had raised concerns among the residents of Gudai village, who fear the bear might return.