Honey heist: Escaped brown bears ransack delivery at Wildwood Devon Zoo, sending visitors into urgent lockdown
Two European brown bears at Wildwood Devon have caused quite a stir after managing to escape their enclosure and help themselves to a feast of snacks, including a full week’s supply of honey.
Mish and Lucy, both five years old, 5ft tall and weighing 30 stone, were caught on CCTV wandering into a storage area and rummaging through recently delivered supplies.
Among their finds: honey, containers of food and even a jar of peanut butter.
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The five-year-old siblings eventually returned to their £100,000 ($A209,545) enclosure — apparently full and content — and promptly fell asleep.
Mark Habben, director of zoo operations at Wildwood Devon, told The Sun: “We’d had a huge food delivery an hour before. It was still in boxes, and they made their way straight to it. They tore into containers and also smashed a jar of peanut butter.”
Zoo staff quickly intervened, and the police were called to the scene.
A zoo spokeswoman reassured the public that the two bears remained calm and posed no threat.
“Mish and Lucy posed no threat. They enjoyed a selection of snacks — including the honey — before being safely returned to their enclosure by the keeper team within the hour. Then they fell asleep.”
Police confirmed the response, stating: “Specialist officers attended and visitors taken to places of safety.”
Mish and Lucy have been at Wildwood Deven since 2022 after being discovered as abandoned cubs in the mountains of Albania in 2019. The young bears were first cared for in Belgium before being relocated to the UK.
Upon arrival, Wildwood launched a fundraising appeal to build them a naturalistic habitat.
Since settling in, the duo have become firm favourites among visitors — and clearly, among snack deliveries too.
Mr Habben said the zoo is now looking into how the escape occurred. “We are investigating how they got out — but we suspect they’ve gone through an unlocked gate. We’ve managed bears for 21 years and never had an incident like this.”
As for the two snack-loving escapees? A new meal plan may be on the cards.
“Mish and Lucy are going to be on a restricted diet. It’s only the bear necessities from now on.”
