A grizzly bear was able to escape its enclosure at the Calgary Zoo on Sunday morning before being tranquillized and returned to its habitat.Fitz is a one-year-old grizzly bear who was adopted by the Calgary Zoo, alongside his brother Turner, in Fall 2025 after their mother was killed by a hunter in self-defence.Calgary Zoo confirmed that Fitz was able to escape his enclosure at around 7:30 am Sunday morning, about an hour and a half before the zoo was set to open.According to the zoo, Fitz wasn't able to get very far, as emergency response procedures were implemented fast once the escape was noticed.Zoo staff successfully tranquillized Fitz, who was then returned to his enclosure without any incident."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," a statement from the zoo reads..While out of his enclosure Fitz reportedly just briefly walked around the Wild Canada area of the park before being subdued by zoo staff."The grizzly bear got out, took a little walk around the zoo, sat down and was tranquillized by members of the zoo," said Calgary Police Service Staff Sgt. John Guigon told CBC."I'm sure they were concerned given it's a grizzly bear and what they are capable of doing, but the bear didn't seem interested in doing much more than just having an adventure."Despite the incident, the zoo opened as scheduled on Sunday, with the exception that the Wild Canada section of the park remained closed while staff conducted a "full assessment of the area." The Wild Canada section was subsequently opened back up to the public in the afternoon.Calgary Zoo has stated that they are currently investigating how Fitz was able to escape but would not be providing details on how his escape occurred at this time."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.”
