The sweet taste of freedom: Bears escape enclosure and steal honey

When two European brown bears got out of their enclosure at a wildlife park in Devon, they went looking for snacks.

Their first stop? The honey cupboard.

Most of us have read about bears with a sweet tooth in stories like Winnie the Pooh and Paddington - but it turns out these real life bears, named Mish and Lucy like tasty treats too.

The pair of young, curious bears wandered into a staff area at Wildwood Devon on Monday afternoon and made a beeline (or should that be a bear-line) to a whole week's supply of honey, scoffing the lot!

They also spent time getting their sticky paws on ropes and toys found in the storage space, which is usually off-limits to animals.

The alarm was raised at the wildlife park around 3pm on Monday 23 June after a member of staff spotted that the bears had escaped.

Emergency procedures were then put in place and the park was evacuated.

The bears were roaming free for about 55 minutes and 16 visitors, including children, were told to stay in a play barn for their safety, while the the situation was being managed.

Mark Habben, director of zoological operations at Wildwood Trust, said: "Both bears are extremely happy, the team were very, very calm as were the bears at all points.

"The public were not in harm's way, emergency procedures and everyone did the job they were intended to do."

The wildlife park was evacuated after Mish and Lucy escaped from their enclosure

Staff kept a close eye on the bears using CCTV. "They were wandering up and down, having a sniff around, looking in the store cupboard where honey was stored," Mr Habben added. "That was fortuitously left open so they raided that."

As they explored the staff zone - they found enrichment items (things like toys and treats) which are kept to keep animals happy and stimulated. "The bears had a feast, played around, pulled some rope out," said Mr Habben.

In the end, Mish calmly returned to the enclosure by herself, while Lucy was encouraged back with the help of her favourite treats and a bell. Mr Habben described both bears as "extremely happy" and praised the calm, professional response of the staff.

The park says it's the first time an incident like this has happened and has now launched an investigation to find out how Mish and Lucy managed to get out, especially as there was no damage to their enclosure.

With the bears now safely back in their enclosure, the park opened as normal on Tuesday morning.

Mish and Lucy were originally rescued from a snowdrift in the Albanian mountains in 2019 and are well known for their clever, playful personalities, with Mr Habben describing them as "extremely charismatic and resilient".

The park's website says that: "Despite several attempts to reintroduce these bear cubs back into the wild, it was clear they could no longer survive on their own and needed a home."

The young bears weigh 180kg (397lb) that's about the weight of a motorbike.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, European brown bears can grow up to 6.5ft (1.9m) and weigh up to 1,500lbs (680kg), are able to stand on two legs and communicate through scratch marks on trees.

Some of the largest living carnivores, there are thought to be up to 110,000 of the bears left in the world.

They like to eat fruits, vegetables, fish and meat.

And honey… obviously.