Bear temporarily escapes enclosure at Mississippi zoo
July 25 (UPI) -- An Asiatic black bear escaped from its enclosure at a Mississippi zoo when a door was mistakenly left open.
Ison Harris, the director of the Jackson Parks and Recreation Department, said the bear, named Meeko, was able to leave through the door when workers cleaning the animal's enclosure failed to properly shut it.
"As they were leaving, they shut the door, but apparently the door didn't secure properly. Once the keepers left, the Asiatic bear then pushed open the door, and after eating, walked up and down the back hall of the service area within the enclosure," Harris told WAPT-TV. "We called for a code red. They were able to walk Meeko back to his normal spot."
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the bear was never a danger to zoo visitors.
"The bear was never walking out in the zoo. There are no animals unaccounted for. There are no people that are unaccounted for. There are layers of security within the bear enclosure, and the bear got past one of those layers before the issue was identified," Lumumba told WLBT-TV. "And he was then redirected into the place he needed to be."
The incident was reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
