Bearback cycling

A bored bear who broke out of his zoo enclosure found plenty to amuse him - including a bicycle. Juan swam across a water-filled moat before snapping a branch off a tree to use as a makeshift ladder, then scaled a 2m wall.

The 110kg, 19-year-old spectacled bear, from South America, roamed around a children's playground.

He picked up the bicycle but, after checking the saddle, decided it would not help his escape.

Staff at Berlin Zoo recaptured Juan after shooting him twice in the rump with tranquilliser darts. He was then carried back to his enclosure and left to sleep off the effects of the drug.

The zoo was not evacuated and director Juergen Lange said: 'It was good nobody panicked, as the bear could have reacted aggressively.'

But his deputy, Heiner Kloe,s said: 'I was alarmed at how some fathers were too busy filming the bear to check where their children were. 'Spectacled bears eat both vegetables and meat but children tend not to be on their menu. 'I'd have been a lot more worried if one of our polar bears had escaped.'

The zoo was in the headlines two months ago when a gorilla named Bokita was shot dead after escaping from its cage.