Curious bear breaks out of St. Louis Zoo enclosure again

A “young and adventurous” Andean bear got out of his enclosure Thursday at the St. Louis Zoo, weeks after he managed to slip out of the same place, zoo officials said.

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Ben the 4-year-old bear got out of his outdoor habitat as the zoo was open to visitors around 1 p.m. Thursday, according to officials. Guests were directed indoors as staff members worked to secure the bear, a process that took about 50 minutes.

The escape marked Ben’s second from his enclosure in the zoo’s River’s Edge section. Staff members found Ben pacing the perimeter of his habitat, trying to get back in, after he escaped sometime before the zoo opened on the morning of Feb. 7, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Zoo officials said Ben had messed with the steel mesh of his enclosure “in just the right spot,” causing a cable to give way.

After his earlier escape, the zoo installed stainless steel cargo clips rated at 450 pounds tensile strength in Ben’s habitat.

“We thought they would work, but he managed to snap the clips again,” zoo director Michael Macek told the Post-Dispatch. “We’re obviously looking at other methods to secure the mesh to the frame.”

Macek told KSDK that the zoo has had the habitat where Ben lives since 2016.

“We have not had a bear escape from that habitat ever,” he said. “(Ben’s) just very curious.”

The bear has been at the St. Louis Zoo since the summer of 2021.

Andean bears, which are found only in South America, are considered vulnerable because of habitat loss, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.