Visitors at a grizzly bear exhibit at the Minnesota Zoo were in for quite a scare on Monday.
One of the three bears in the exhibit startled visitors after it repeatedly slammed a rock into a pane of glass, shattering the barrier, according to The Huffington Post.
Fortunately, only one of the five layers of the laminated safety glass was shattered after the bear threw the 50-pound rock into it, according to CBS News.
“Everything else in this exhibit is pretty much concrete and steel, pretty indestructible,” stated director of Animal Collections Tony Fisher.
“We designed this exhibit to withstand the bears, and what they can do.”
The bears have reportedly been removed from their exhibit and won’t be back for a few days until a replacement pane can be installed. The bears weren’t being aggressive or trying to escape the enclosure during the time of the incident, according to Fisher.
They were simply just playing with their surroundings. An incident like this reportedly hasn’t happened since the orphaned bears arrived at the zoo from Alaska back in 2008.
Fisher reportedly suspects that out of the three bears, it was Kenai that may be responsible for the deed as the full-grown male is “usually the clown out there.” Although Kenai is quite shy, he is reportedly the first to try new things when he is given the chance.
It is suspected that the bear probably loosened one of the rocks in their enclosure before slamming it against the window, according to Fisher.
“A brown bear weighs 800 or 900 pounds, so it’s not much to them,” explained Fisher.
