With a couple of loose bears, the police were called and a unit of firearms was sent to the wildlife in the southwest of England.
But panic calmed down when Mish and Lucy were found deeply asleep in the honey shop on Monday, after having eaten a week of Sweet Treat existences at Wildwood Devon.
The brothers managed to go through a back door that had left open while the staff worked with vehicles inside, Mark Habben, director of Zoological Operations of the Park, told NBC News in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
“They were not in the public space, but they were out of their enclosure in the areas of the staff, simply wandering,” he said.
With their new freedom and sense of smell 2,000 times higher than humans, they went to the kitchen.
“We had a delivery of fresh foods with all fruits and vegetables only one hour before it escaped,” said Habben on the supplies that would have lasted four days. “They ate all bananas, apples, fresh food and vegetables,” he said.
Then, the brothers found honey bottles in the area where the staff prepares meals for them and “ate approximately one week,” he said.
“They have an incredible sense of smell, so they simply wandered looking for their favorite foods, and then fell asleep,” he said.
The escape of Mish and Lucy caused an emergency evacuation throughout the park and the deployment of a firearms response equipment with the support of the Local Police, said Habben.
He said there was never any danger that bears were shot “because the bears were very, very calm,” he added that no one was injured.
“All they wanted to do was go back to the end,” he said.
After an hour of rummaging for the snacks, Mish, which weighs around 400 pounds, he returned to the enclosure, and Lucy, which weighs about 300 pounds, ran back after the guardians called the bell that the bears were trained to continue, Habben said.
European brown bears were rescued as puppies from a snow drift in Albania in 2019, Habben said. Originally they were supposed to be released in Romania, but when that did not work, Wildwood built a “customary forest house” for the couple, he added.
“They are really inquisitive, very friendly and very fun,” he said. “They are very intrigued by everything.”
