Bears escape wildlife park enclosure, devour a 7-day supply of honey, then fall asleep
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Bears get paws on the honey in UK wildlife park escape
Crash dummies used in car safety tests are still modeled after men despite higher risks for women. Women are 73 percent more likely to be injured in a frontal crash, yet the dummy used in vehicle tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dates back to the 1970s. A more advanced female dummy from Humanetics equipped with all of the available sensors costs around $1 million, about twice the cost of the Hybrid used now. The more expensive dummy far more accurately reflects the anatomical differences between the sexes, says the company’s CEO. But some American automakers argue the more sophisticated devices may exaggerate the injury risks and undercut the value of seat belts and airbags. The push for new safety requirements has been moving at a sluggish pace in the US, where much of the research is happening and where around 40,000 people are killed each year in car crashes. But Europe has adopted the more advanced male dummy developed by Humanetics’ engineers, the THOR 50M (based on a 50th percentile man), into testing procedures soon.
Maria Weston Kuhn had one lingering question about the car crash that forced her to have emergency surgery during a vacation in Ireland: Why did she and her mother sustain serious injuries while her father and brother, who sat in the front, emerge unscathed?
“It was a head-on crash and they were closest to the point of contact,” said Kuhn, now 25, who missed a semester of college to recover from the 2019 collision that caused her seat belt to slide off her hips and rupture her intestines by pinning them against her spine. “That was an early clue that something else was going on.”
When Kuhn returned home to Maine, she found an article her grandma had clipped from Consumer Reports and left on her bed. Women are 73 percent more likely to be injured in a frontal crash, she learned, yet the dummy used in vehicle tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dates back to the 1970s and is still modeled almost entirely off the body of a man.
A survivor becomes an activist
Kuhn, who is starting law school at New York University this fall, took action and founded the nonprofit Drive US Forward. Its aim was to raise public awareness and eventually encourage members of Congress to sign onto a bill that would require NHTSA to incorporate a more advanced female dummy into its testing.
The agency has the final word on whether cars get pulled from the market, and the kind of dummy used in its safety tests could impact which ones receive coveted five-star ratings.
“It seems like we have an easy solution here where we can have crash test dummies that reflect an average woman as well as a man,” Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican who has introduced the legislation the past two sessions, told The Associated Press.
Senators from both parties have signed onto Fischer’s “She Drives Act,” and the transportation secretaries from the past two presidential administrations have expressed support for updating the rules.
But for various reasons, the push for new safety requirements has been moving at a sluggish pace. That’s particularly true in the US, where much of the research is happening and where around 40,000 people are killed each year in car crashes.
Evolution of a crash test dummy
The crash test dummy currently used in NHTSA five-star testing is called the Hybrid III, which was developed in 1978 and modeled after a 5-foot-9, 171-pound man (the average size in the 1970s but about 29 pounds lighter than today’s average). What’s known as the female dummy is essentially a much smaller version of the male model with a rubber jacket to represent breasts. It’s routinely tested in the passenger seat or the back seat but seldom in the driver’s seat, even though the majority of licensed drivers are women.
“What they didn’t do is design a crash test dummy that has all the sensors in the areas where a woman would be injured differently than a man,” said Christopher O’Connor, president and CEO of the Farmington Hills, Michigan-based Humanetics Group, which has spent more than a decade developing and refining one.
A female dummy from Humanetics equipped with all of the available sensors costs around $1 million, about twice the cost of the Hybrid used now.
But, O’Connor says, the more expensive dummy far more accurately reflects the anatomical differences between the sexes — including in the shape of the neck, collarbone, pelvis, and legs, which one NHTSA study found account for about 80 percent more injuries by women in a car crash compared to men.
Such physical dummies will always be needed for vehicle safety tests, and to verify the accuracy of virtual tests, O’Connor said.
Europe incorporated the more advanced male dummy developed by Humanetics’ engineers, the THOR 50M (based on a 50th percentile man), into its testing procedures soon after Kuhn’s 2019 crash in Ireland. Several other countries, including China and Japan, have adopted it as well.
But that model and the female version the company uses for comparison, the THOR 5F (based on a 5th percentile woman), have been met with skepticism from some American automakers who argue the more sophisticated devices may exaggerate injury risks and undercut the value of some safety features such as seat belts and airbags.
A debate over whether more sensors mean more safety
Bridget Walchesky, 19, had to be flown to a hospital, where she required eight surgeries over a month, after a 2022 crash near her home in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, that killed her friend, who was driving. While acknowledging the seat belt likely saved her life, Walchesky said some of the injuries — including her broken collarbone — were the result of it pinning her too tightly, which she views as something better safety testing focused on women could improve.
“Seat belts aren’t really built for bodies on females,” Walchesky said. “Some of my injuries, the way the force hit me, they were probably worsened.”
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry trade group, said in a statement to the AP that the better way to ensure safety — which it called its top priority — is through upgrades to the existing Hybrid dummy rather than mandating a new one.
“This can happen on a faster timeline and lead to quicker safety improvements than requiring NHTSA to adopt unproven crash test dummy technology,” the alliance said.
Humanetics’ THOR dummies received high marks in the vehicle safety agency’s early tests. Using cadavers from actual crashes to compare the results, NHTSA found they outperformed the existing Hybrid in predicting almost all injuries — including to the head, neck, shoulders, abdomen and legs.
A separate review by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research arm funded by auto insurers, was far more critical of the dummy’s ability to predict chest injuries in a frontal crash. Despite the vast expansion in the number of sensors, the insurance institute’s testing found, the male THOR dummy was less accurate than the current Hybrid dummies, which also had limitations.
“More isn’t necessarily better,” said Jessica Jermakian, senior vice president for vehicle research at IIHS. “You also have to be confident that the data is telling you the right things about how a real person would fare in that crash.”
The slow pace of changing the rules
NHTSA’s budget plan commits to developing the female THOR 5F version with the ultimate goal of incorporating it into the testing. But there could be a long wait considering the THOR’s male version adopted by other countries is still awaiting final approval in the US
A 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office, which conducts research for Congress, cited numerous “missed milestones” in NHTSA’s development of various crash dummy enhancements — including in the THOR models.
Kuhn acknowledges being frustrated by the slow process of trying to change the regulations. She says she understands why there’s reluctance from auto companies if they fear being forced to make widespread design changes with more consideration for women’s safety.
“Fortunately, they have very skilled engineers and they’ll figure it out,” she said.
Bears escape enclosure, eat a week’s worth of honey, then fall asleep
Mish and Lucy, both aged four, got out of their enclosure at Wildwood Devon in southwestern England. The pair made a beeline for their food store where they scoffed snacks, including the seven-day supply of honey. The park released video of Lucy devouring the food and “looking very pleased with herself” The bears “posed no threat to the public at any point” although visitors on site were escorted to a secure building as a precaution, the park said. An investigation was underway to determine how the animals managed to break out.
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 snacks, including the seven-day supply of honey, a park statement said. The park released video of Lucy devouring the food and “looking very pleased with herself.”
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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.
Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust’s sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. / Credit: Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images
“Our experienced keeping team acted immediately, following established safety protocols, and successfully used recall training to encourage both bears back into their enclosure without the need for any intervention,” the park said.
Police were at the scene and an investigation was underway to determine how the animals managed to break out. The park said an “operational error” allowed the bears to escape, without elaborating.
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“This was an isolated incident, and we are conducting a full internal investigation to understand exactly how it happened and to ensure robust measures are in place to prevent a reoccurrence,” the park wrote on social media. “While the structural integrity of the bear enclosure remains uncompromised, we take any operational lapse extremely seriously.”
The park, which covers 40 acres of gardens and woodland, is home to an array of wildlife including brown bears, wolves and arctic foxes.
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Bears get paws on the honey in UK wildlife park escape
Crash dummies used in car safety tests are still modeled after men despite higher risks for women. Women are 73 percent more likely to be injured in a frontal crash, yet the dummy used in vehicle tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dates back to the 1970s. A more advanced female dummy from Humanetics equipped with all of the available sensors costs around $1 million, about twice the cost of the Hybrid used now. The more expensive dummy far more accurately reflects the anatomical differences between the sexes, says the company’s CEO. But some American automakers argue the more sophisticated devices may exaggerate the injury risks and undercut the value of seat belts and airbags. The push for new safety requirements has been moving at a sluggish pace in the US, where much of the research is happening and where around 40,000 people are killed each year in car crashes. But Europe has adopted the more advanced male dummy developed by Humanetics’ engineers, the THOR 50M (based on a 50th percentile man), into testing procedures soon.
Maria Weston Kuhn had one lingering question about the car crash that forced her to have emergency surgery during a vacation in Ireland: Why did she and her mother sustain serious injuries while her father and brother, who sat in the front, emerge unscathed?
“It was a head-on crash and they were closest to the point of contact,” said Kuhn, now 25, who missed a semester of college to recover from the 2019 collision that caused her seat belt to slide off her hips and rupture her intestines by pinning them against her spine. “That was an early clue that something else was going on.”
When Kuhn returned home to Maine, she found an article her grandma had clipped from Consumer Reports and left on her bed. Women are 73 percent more likely to be injured in a frontal crash, she learned, yet the dummy used in vehicle tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dates back to the 1970s and is still modeled almost entirely off the body of a man.
A survivor becomes an activist
Kuhn, who is starting law school at New York University this fall, took action and founded the nonprofit Drive US Forward. Its aim was to raise public awareness and eventually encourage members of Congress to sign onto a bill that would require NHTSA to incorporate a more advanced female dummy into its testing.
The agency has the final word on whether cars get pulled from the market, and the kind of dummy used in its safety tests could impact which ones receive coveted five-star ratings.
“It seems like we have an easy solution here where we can have crash test dummies that reflect an average woman as well as a man,” Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican who has introduced the legislation the past two sessions, told The Associated Press.
Senators from both parties have signed onto Fischer’s “She Drives Act,” and the transportation secretaries from the past two presidential administrations have expressed support for updating the rules.
But for various reasons, the push for new safety requirements has been moving at a sluggish pace. That’s particularly true in the US, where much of the research is happening and where around 40,000 people are killed each year in car crashes.
Evolution of a crash test dummy
The crash test dummy currently used in NHTSA five-star testing is called the Hybrid III, which was developed in 1978 and modeled after a 5-foot-9, 171-pound man (the average size in the 1970s but about 29 pounds lighter than today’s average). What’s known as the female dummy is essentially a much smaller version of the male model with a rubber jacket to represent breasts. It’s routinely tested in the passenger seat or the back seat but seldom in the driver’s seat, even though the majority of licensed drivers are women.
“What they didn’t do is design a crash test dummy that has all the sensors in the areas where a woman would be injured differently than a man,” said Christopher O’Connor, president and CEO of the Farmington Hills, Michigan-based Humanetics Group, which has spent more than a decade developing and refining one.
A female dummy from Humanetics equipped with all of the available sensors costs around $1 million, about twice the cost of the Hybrid used now.
But, O’Connor says, the more expensive dummy far more accurately reflects the anatomical differences between the sexes — including in the shape of the neck, collarbone, pelvis, and legs, which one NHTSA study found account for about 80 percent more injuries by women in a car crash compared to men.
Such physical dummies will always be needed for vehicle safety tests, and to verify the accuracy of virtual tests, O’Connor said.
Europe incorporated the more advanced male dummy developed by Humanetics’ engineers, the THOR 50M (based on a 50th percentile man), into its testing procedures soon after Kuhn’s 2019 crash in Ireland. Several other countries, including China and Japan, have adopted it as well.
But that model and the female version the company uses for comparison, the THOR 5F (based on a 5th percentile woman), have been met with skepticism from some American automakers who argue the more sophisticated devices may exaggerate injury risks and undercut the value of some safety features such as seat belts and airbags.
A debate over whether more sensors mean more safety
Bridget Walchesky, 19, had to be flown to a hospital, where she required eight surgeries over a month, after a 2022 crash near her home in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, that killed her friend, who was driving. While acknowledging the seat belt likely saved her life, Walchesky said some of the injuries — including her broken collarbone — were the result of it pinning her too tightly, which she views as something better safety testing focused on women could improve.
“Seat belts aren’t really built for bodies on females,” Walchesky said. “Some of my injuries, the way the force hit me, they were probably worsened.”
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry trade group, said in a statement to the AP that the better way to ensure safety — which it called its top priority — is through upgrades to the existing Hybrid dummy rather than mandating a new one.
“This can happen on a faster timeline and lead to quicker safety improvements than requiring NHTSA to adopt unproven crash test dummy technology,” the alliance said.
Humanetics’ THOR dummies received high marks in the vehicle safety agency’s early tests. Using cadavers from actual crashes to compare the results, NHTSA found they outperformed the existing Hybrid in predicting almost all injuries — including to the head, neck, shoulders, abdomen and legs.
A separate review by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research arm funded by auto insurers, was far more critical of the dummy’s ability to predict chest injuries in a frontal crash. Despite the vast expansion in the number of sensors, the insurance institute’s testing found, the male THOR dummy was less accurate than the current Hybrid dummies, which also had limitations.
“More isn’t necessarily better,” said Jessica Jermakian, senior vice president for vehicle research at IIHS. “You also have to be confident that the data is telling you the right things about how a real person would fare in that crash.”
The slow pace of changing the rules
NHTSA’s budget plan commits to developing the female THOR 5F version with the ultimate goal of incorporating it into the testing. But there could be a long wait considering the THOR’s male version adopted by other countries is still awaiting final approval in the US
A 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office, which conducts research for Congress, cited numerous “missed milestones” in NHTSA’s development of various crash dummy enhancements — including in the THOR models.
Kuhn acknowledges being frustrated by the slow process of trying to change the regulations. She says she understands why there’s reluctance from auto companies if they fear being forced to make widespread design changes with more consideration for women’s safety.
“Fortunately, they have very skilled engineers and they’ll figure it out,” she said.
Bears get paws on the honey in UK wildlife park escape
Siblings Mish and Lucy, both aged four, got out of their enclosure at Wildwood Devon. The pair made a beeline for their food store where they scoffed snacks including the seven-day supply of honey. The bears “posed no threat to the public at any point,” Wildwood said.
Siblings 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 snacks 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.
Mish and Lucy were taken in by Wildwood in 2021 after being abandoned by their mother in a snowdrift in the Albanian mountains.
Several attempts were made to reintroduce the cubs into the wild but it became clear to conservationists that they could not survive on their own.
har/yad
Moment escaped bears eat a WEEK’s worth of honey after breaking free
Mish and Lucy, both five years old, broke free from their enclosure at Wildwood Devon at Escot Park, near Ottery St Mary, at around 3pm yesterday. They did not seek to scare their 16 visitors – including children who were locked away in a play barn – or the armed emergency staff who visited the site. Instead, they headed straight for their food store to tuck into a selection of delicious treats such as berries, vegetables, fish, meats, and of course, a shed load of honey. The playful pair were moved to the park in 2022 after being abandoned by their mother in Albania and are said to have become a ‘favourite’ with visitors as they are known for their silliness. An internal investigation by the park is now underway to determine how the pair escaped, while Wild Wood Devon has reopened to the public again today. Were YOU at the wildlife park yesterday? Email ciaran.foreman@mailonline.co.uk with your photos and video.
This is the moment two young bears escaped their enclosure at a wildlife park and ate a week’s worth of honey while on the loose.
Brown bears Mish and Lucy, both five years old, broke free from their enclosure at Wildwood Devon at Escot Park, near Ottery St Mary, at around 3pm yesterday.
And while visitors to the park were locked away in fear, the adorable brother and sister embarked on an adventure resembling a plot straight from an A.A. Milne book or a certain fictional bear from Peru.
After breaking out of their enclosure, Mish and Lucy, who weigh around 400lbs, did not seek to scare their 16 visitors – including children who were locked away in a play barn – or the armed emergency staff who visited the site.
Instead, they headed straight for their food store to tuck into a selection of delicious treats such as berries, vegetables, fish, meats, and of course, a shed load of honey.
The heartwarming footage, which is how staff monitored the pair on CCTV and ensured they ‘posed no risk to the public’, shows Lucy devouring buckets worth of food.
The playful pair were moved to the park in 2022 after being abandoned by their mother in Albania and are said to have become a ‘favourite’ with visitors as they are known for their silliness.
Mish typically spends his time splashing around in pools and snoring as he drifts asleep on hammocks, while Lucy has an adventurous nature and loves to climb trees.
Lucy can be seen on the heartwarming video devouring a bucket of food after she and her brother Mish broke out of their enclosure at Wildwood Devon yesterday afternoon
After breaking out Mish and Lucy did not seek to scare their visitors or the armed emergency staff who visited the site
Instead, they headed straight for their food store to tuck into a selection of delicious treats such as berries, vegetables, fish, meats, and of course, a shed load of honey
An internal investigation by the park is now underway to determine how the pair escaped, while Wildwood Devon has reopened to the public again today.
Mark Habben, director of zoological operations at the park, told the BBC today that the bears are ‘extremely happy’.
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.
‘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.’
Mr Habben said a ‘code red’ was triggered when Mish and Lucy were seen roaming around by senior staff, which saw firearms trained staff and police visit the park.
But after they devoured their food, the bears ‘calmy’ returned to their enclosure where they quickly fell asleep – meaning no intervention was needed.
The playful pair (both pictured) moved to the park in 2022 after being abandoned by their mother in Albania and are said to have become a ‘favourite’ with visitors as they are known for their silliness
Mish typically spends his time splashing around in pools and snoring as he drifts asleep on hammocks, while Lucy has an adventurous nature and loves to climb trees
Mr Habben said a ‘code red’ was triggered when Mish and Lucy were seen roaming around by senior staff, which saw firearms trained staff and police visit the park
Wildwood said when they got Mish and Lucy, that they wanted to give them an enclosure which had been left ‘as natural as possible with the aim of creating a lifelong habitat’.
The bears were rescued in 2019 and 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.’
On yesterday’s events, 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.
Wildwood said they wanted to give the siblings an enclosure which had been left ‘as natural as possible with the aim of creating a lifelong habitat’
The bears were rescued in 2019 and were kept briefly in Belgium before being brought to Escot when a £250,000 appeal was launched to build the enclosure
The adorable brother and sister embarked on an adventure resembling a plot straight from an A.A. Milne book (above, Winnie the Pooh)
‘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.’