Watch: Man plays escaped ‘bear’ in educational drill at Hiroshima zoo
By Bryan Ke
A zoo in Hiroshima, Japan, held an animal escape drill over the weekend, letting a staff member in a hilarious bear costume loose.
Why it matters: Held at the Asa Zoological Park in Hiroshima on Sunday, the animal escape drill is an annual exercise designed to teach visitors safety measures in a fun and educational way. According to local media, this year’s drill depicted a scenario in which a bear escapes through a fallen tree that hit its enclosure following an earthquake.
What happened: A video of the action-packed drill shows several staff members trying their best to capture the “bear” using ropes and nets, all while protecting visitors from the escaped wild animal. In the end, they successfully returned the bear to its enclosure after shooting it with a toy tranquilizer gun.
More serious drills: While the event was a fun learning experience for visitors, Japanese media reported that Asa Zoological Park also holds an annual full-scale animal escape drill for its staff behind closed doors. Katsuhiko Abe, the zoo’s director, told local media that if an actual bear escapes its enclosure, all visitors must run to a safe place as soon as possible.
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