Four sister raccoons have escaped from a zoo just three weeks after they arrived.

The mammals broke out of Amazon World Zoo Park on the Isle of Wight on Thursday night.

Zookeepers have deployed tracker dogs and drones in their search for the four 18-month-old animals.

They have appealed to members of the public to check their sheds and piles of wood intended for burning in bonfires on Guy Fawkes night.

Rowena Welsh, a supervisor at Amazon World, said: "They are new here. Everyone is out searching and we have tracker dogs and drones looking for them."

Ms Welsh warned the public not to approach the raccoons because they were likely to be "very frightened."

"They are not dangerous and the protocol is for people to call us straight away and don't try to approach because they would be very frightened," she said.

"They are not dangerous and they would be more frightened of us than we would be of them."

Another female raccoon who was in the enclosure with the four sisters did not escape.

Raccoons are native to North America but are kept in captivity and as pets in Britain.

Amazon World, which is located between Newport and Sandown in the Isle of Wight's countryside, is also home to meerkats, boa constrictors and flamingos.

In December 2005, Toga, the baby African penguin, was stolen from the zoo after thieves scaled two fences to get into his enclosure.

Zoo staff speculated that the crime may have been inspired by the release of the film March of the Penguins.

Despite nationwide appeals, the penguin was never found.

His parents Oscar and Kyala, who were pictured pining for their firstborn, went on to hatch other chicks.

There is no suggestion of foul play in the escape of the four raccoons.