Two young bears yesterday escaped their wildlife park enclosure and ate a week’s worth of honey while on the loose.
Police were called to Wildwood Devon at Escot Park near Ottery St Mary after receiving reports that Mish and Lucy, both five years old, had broken out.
Visitors to the 500-acre zoo were ‘promptly escorted to a secure building’ and were locked in a room as a precaution for around an hour as officers descended on the scene.
Wildwood said Mish and Lucy headed ‘straight for their food store’ and ‘posed no threat to the public at any point’.
The pair were monitored on CCTV as they ‘enjoyed a selection of snacks’, including the honey, before they ‘calmly returned to their enclosure and fell asleep’.
An internal investigation by the park is now underway to determine how Mish and Lucy, who were moved to the site in 2022, escaped.
Wildwood Devon is open to the public again today.
A spokesperson for Wildwood Devon said: ‘Two young bears escaped from their enclosure at Wildwood Devon [yesterday] afternoon, heading straight for their food store.
‘Mish and Lucy, both five years, who posed no threat to the public at any point, enjoyed a selection of snacks – including a week’s worth of honey – before being safely returned to their enclosure by the expert keeper team within the hour.
‘As a precaution, all visitors on site were promptly escorted to a secure building. The bears were continuously monitored both on the ground and via CCTV until they calmly returned to their enclosure and fell asleep.
‘In line with standard protocol, police attended the scene, and an investigation is now underway to determine how the incident occurred.
‘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.’
A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesperson added: ‘We were made aware of two resident bears having escaped from their home at Escot Park on the afternoon of Monday 23 June.
‘Specialist officers attended and visitors taken to places of safety.
‘The bears were safely returned to their area and secured.’
Mish and Lucy were abandoned by their mother in Albania and were said to have been ‘unable to survive in the wild.’
Wildwood said it wanted to give them an enclosure which had been left ‘as natural as possible with the aim of creating a lifelong habitat’.
The bears, who were rescued in 2019, were kept briefly in Belgium before being brought to Escot when a £250,000 appeal was launched to build the enclosure.
Wildwood Devon’s general manager said previously: ‘They’re the first bears we’ve ever had at Escot and have become firm favourites with our visitors.’
