Zoo workers pursue person in bear costume for escape drill

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Visitors to a Japanese zoo were treated to an unusual spectacle as a person in a bear costume led zoo workers on a chase through the park to simulate a real animal escape.

The Asa Zoological Park in Hiroshima held an animal escape drill Sunday involving a zoo employee in a bear costume running loose through the zoo while workers pursued the imitation bruin and worked to protect visitors as if a real bear had escaped.

The scenario concocted for the escape drill involved a bear that escaped from its enclosure when an earthquake caused a tree to fall and give a male bear a way to climb out of its enclosure.

Video of the drill shows staff using barricades to corner the bear before simulating the process of using tranquilizer darts to subdue the animal and return it to its enclosure.