A bear at a Missouri zoo has escaped twice in a month. Bear Ben, who broke loose for the first time on February 7, did so again on Thursday, American media report Friday.
No one was injured in either escape. Ben was captured by zoo staff within 50 minutes during his escape attempt on Thursday. He was then placed back in his enclosure.
During his first escape, Ben managed to break mesh on the outside of his enclosure, allowing him to break free. It then took more than an hour and a half before zoo staff caught him.
After that first attempt, zoo staff put security measures in place to make sure Ben couldn’t escape again. They did this, among other things, by mounting stainless steel cargo clips on the fence of his residence. “But that wasn’t enough for Ben,” writes Saint Louis Zoo in a statement.
The zoo describes the four-year-old Andean bear as young and adventurous. New ways to secure his stay are being looked at.
