June 25 (UPI) — A pair of European brown bears escaped from their enclosure at a British wildlife park and made their way to a food storage area, where they feasted on snacks including a week’s worth of honey.

Wildwood Devon confirmed on social media that 5-year-old bears Mish and Lucy escaped from their enclosure due to “an operational error” that allowed the bruins to access a behind-the-scenes area used for food storage.

The park was closed as part of standard protocols and police were contacted, but zookeepers were able to “encourage both bears back into their enclosure without the need for any intervention,” the post said.

The park said the bears “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.”

Officials said both bears took long, food-induced naps upon returning to their habitat.

Bears escape enclosure and eat so much honey they pass out

Bears escape, eat so much honey they pass out

Bears escape, eat so much honey they pass out

Two young bears escaped from their enclosure at a U.K. wildlife park and devoured a week’s worth of food store honey before falling asleep, the park 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 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.”

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. 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.

“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.

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.

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A pair of young European brown bears named Mish and Lucy broke out of their enclosures at a southwestern England wildlife park and pulled a heist of a week’s worth of honey, park officials said.

Mish and Lucy, both 5 years old, escaped on June 23 and headed “straight for their food stores,” the Wildwood Devon park said. There, the bears indulged in a variety of snacks, including about a week’s worth of their allotted honey, before they were returned safely to their enclosures within an hour, the park said in a post to social media.

The bears never posed a threat to anyone’s safety, but park staff escorted all visitors to a secure building until they were contained. Staff had eyes on the bears through CCTV footage the whole time, the park said. Footage shared on social media shows Lucy rooting through supplies and looking chuffed.

Both bears “passed out” after the escapade, the park said.

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“We can now confirm that this was the result of an operational error, which allowed the bears to briefly access a staff-only food storage area,” the park said in an update on June 24.

The staff followed safety protocols and were able to use recall training to safely coax the bears back into their enclosure without the need for any further intervention, the park said. An investigation into the escape was underway, Wildwood Devon said.

“While the structural integrity of the bear enclosure remains uncompromised, we take any operational lapse extremely seriously,” the park said.

The park, which closed the day of the escape, was back open and operating normally the next day.

By Charmayne Allison, ABC

Photo: 123RF

Two young bears who escaped from their enclosure and ate a “week’s worth of honey” have been safely secured at a British wildlife park.

European brown bears Mish and Lucy, both five, fled their enclosure at Wildwood Devon on Monday afternoon, local time.

They then made a beeline to a staff-only food storage area, where they helped themselves to a “selection of snacks”, including honey.

“As a precaution, all visitors on site were promptly escorted to a secure building,” the park said in a post on social media.

Staff said the bears posed no threat to the public at any point.

Bears returned to enclosure

Mish and Lucy were safely returned to their enclosure by the “expert keeper team within the hour”, the park reported on its Instagram site.

“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 bears were continuously monitored both on the ground and via CCTV until they calmly returned to their enclosure and fell asleep.”

The park was temporarily closed and police were called, with an investigation launched into the incident.

In a social media post on Tuesday, local time, Wildwood Devon confirmed the bears’ escape was the result of an “operational error”.

Bears escape an isolated incident

The park said this was an isolated incident.

“We are conducting a full internal investigation to understand exactly how it happened and to ensure robust measures are in place to prevent a re-occurrence,” the park said.

“While the structural integrity of the bear enclosure remains uncompromised, we take any operational lapse extremely seriously.

“We remain fully committed to the highest standards of animal care, visitor safety, and transparency.”

Mish and Lucy have lived at Wildwood since 2021, when they were discovered abandoned on the side of a mountain in Albania.

The park said rescuers had worked to rehabilitate the pair and re-establish them in the wild, but these attempts failed.

The brother and sister bears now live in a half-hectare enclosure where they roam around and climb trees.

Brown bear numbers greatly reduced

Brown bears were once native to much of Asia, northern Africa, Europe and North America.

However, today, numbers have become greatly reduced, even becoming extinct in some areas.

Wildwood said poaching for gall bladders and paws, as well as canned hunting, are big problems for most European brown bears.

The park said habitat loss, persecution and accidental mortality were also major threats.

– ABC