St. Louis Zoo Locks Down After Bear Escapes Habitat

After an Andean bear escaped from its enclosure, patrons at the St. Louis Zoo were put under lockdown on Thursday.

At the zoo, around 1 p.m. local time on Thursday, a 4-year-old bear named Ben escaped from his enclosure. The bear was quickly captured by zoo staff and calmly released. He was then safely returned to his enclosure an hour later. Ben’s escape was the second of this month.

“Zoo staff responded immediately and he’s now being transported back to his indoor holding area,” Billy Brennan, spokesperson for the St. Louis Zoo, told The St. Louis Post-DispatchText to me at 1:45 p.m. “Guests and staff are safe and inside buildings at this time. We expect to have the ‘all clear’ shortly and operate normally.”

The Post-Dispatch reported, “The zoo received the “all clear” Within five minutes. The primate house and herpetarium were asked for guests. They were then allowed to return to the zoo.

This is Ben’s second escape from his enclosure in the last month. Ben broke through the metal mesh in his enclosure on February 7th and was able to make his way out. He was found outside his habitat around 8 A.M. local and was captured at 9:40 A.M. “It would appear that the very curious bear meddled with the steel mesh in just the right spot of the outdoor habitat, causing a cable to give way, which then allowed the bear to work his way out,” The Post-Dispatch reported that the Zoo wrote about the incident on social media. “Team members will continue to inspect his habitat and make decisions to make it even more secure than it is now.”

After the first escape, zoo employees added stainless steel ties — used to secure cargo on freight ships — with 450 pounds of tensile strength to the enclosure. “We thought they would work, but he managed to snap the clips again,” Michael Macek from St. Louis Zoo said this. “We’re obviously looking at other methods to secure the mesh to the frame.”

Andean bears, true to their name, are native to South America’s Andes Mountains. They can be found as far north and south as Colombia, as well as Bolivia. The markings on their faces make them known as spectacled bears. Although they are able to avoid humans, the species is endangered by poaching and habitat loss. Ben arrived at St. Louis Zoo 2021.

Just weeks after the wild bear was killed, the bear escapes. Series of animal disappearances These events were not accidental at the Dallas Zoo. Nova, a clouded leopard that was named Nova, fled its habitat in January 2013. Social media Although the entire thing was hilarious, the animal was later recovered. Dallas police claimed that the habitat had been intentionally destroyed at the time. Dallas Zoo workers discovered that the habitat for langur monkeys had also been cut open the next day. Fortunately, all monkeys were found. Then on January 21, an endangered lappet-faced vulture was found dead; police described the bird’s cause of death as “unnatural.”

Two emperor tamarins, which were living in a mesh cage, were then taken away at the end the month. Police arrested two Suspect In connection with three of these four incidents.