Fitz the grizzly bear briefly escapes his enclosure at the Calgary Zoo

A one-year-old male grizzly bear escaped its enclosure at the Wilder Institute’s Calgary Zoo about 90 minutes before it was supposed to open to the public on Sunday morning, zoo officials have confirmed.

In an email to Global News, zoo media relations said Fitz the grizzly bear got out of his habitat around 7:30 a.m. and that emergency response procedures were immediately activated.

The zoo later said the cub escaped by scaling a three-metre wire-and-mesh fence surrounding the enclosure. Officials said the barrier has since been modified while a review of the incident continues.

“Fitz was successfully immobilized, and our Animal Care, Health & Welfare team safely relocated him to his back-of-house space. There were no injuries to guests, staff, volunteers or animals,” read the email.

The zoo opened to the public shortly after 9 a.m., however the Wild Canada section of the zoo where the grizzly bear enclosure is located remained closed while a “full assessment of the area” was completed. The area was reopened to guests early Sunday afternoon.

“Our teams will be reviewing the circumstances of the incident as part of our established post-incident procedures. We do not have any further information to share at this time.”

Fitz is one of two cubs that were orphaned last fall near Diamond Valley that made their public debut at the Wilder Institute’s Calgary Zoo back in May.