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Spain Returns Smuggled Artifacts to Egypt

Some of the antiquities, which are to be returned to Egypt by the Spanish Civil Guard, are seen before the news conference at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Medina
Some of the antiquities, which are to be returned to Egypt by the Spanish Civil Guard, are seen before the news conference at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Medina
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Spain Returns Smuggled Artifacts to Egypt

Some of the antiquities, which are to be returned to Egypt by the Spanish Civil Guard, are seen before the news conference at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Medina
Some of the antiquities, which are to be returned to Egypt by the Spanish Civil Guard, are seen before the news conference at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, Spain, December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Spain returned 36 stolen antiquities to Egyptian officials on Monday, including figurines of gods and goddesses and ancient jars meant to hold human remains.

The artifacts - among them a granite carving of the lion's head of the warrior goddess Sekhmet - were taken illegally from archaeological sites, officials said.

Smugglers brought them to Spain where police seized then after an investigation in 2014.

Egypt's ambassador to Spain, Youssef Diaeldin Mekkawy, received them at a ceremony at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid.

"The recovery of these 36 archaeological pieces is a successful operation that has lasted years, an operation coordinated between Egyptian and Spanish authorities," Reuters quoted him as saying.

The artifacts, worth more than 150,000 euros ($170,000), were all probably looted from sites at Saqqara and Mit Rahina, Spanish police said.

Egypt and other states have stepped up campaigns for the return of artifacts taken by smugglers or looted by imperial powers.

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Two Bears Escape Wildlife Park Enclosure, Eat a 7-Day Supply of Honey, Then Fall Asleep

Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
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Two Bears Escape Wildlife Park Enclosure, Eat a 7-Day Supply of Honey, Then Fall Asleep

Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  

Two young bears escaped from their enclosure at a UK wildlife park and devoured a week's worth of food store honey before falling asleep, the park said on Tuesday.

Mish and Lucy, both aged four, got out of their enclosure at Wildwood Devon in southwestern England on Monday afternoon, according to CBS News.

The pair made a beeline for their food store where they scoffed snacks, including the seven-day supply of honey, a park statement said.

The bears “posed no threat to the public at any point” although visitors on site were escorted to a secure building as a precaution.

During the hour-long drama, the bears were “continuously monitored both on the ground and via CCTV” until they were returned to their enclosure by keepers and promptly “fell asleep,” Wildwood added.

“Our experienced keeping team acted immediately, following established safety protocols, and successfully used recall training to encourage both bears back into their enclosure without the need for any intervention,” the park said.

Police were at the scene and an investigation was underway to determine how the animals managed to break out. The park said an “operational error” allowed the bears to escape, without elaborating.

“This was an isolated incident, and we are conducting a full internal investigation to understand exactly how it happened and to ensure robust measures are in place to prevent a reoccurrence," the park wrote on social media.

It added, “While the structural integrity of the bear enclosure remains uncompromised, we take any operational lapse extremely seriously.”

The park, which covers 40 acres of gardens and woodland, is home to an array of wildlife including brown bears, wolves and arctic foxes.

Mish and Lucy were taken in by Wildwood in 2021 after being abandoned by their mother in a snowdrift in the Albanian mountains.

Several attempts were made to reintroduce the cubs into the wild but it became clear to conservationists that they could not survive on their own.