Zoo under investigation after bear makes stop at Dairy Queen

A video that shows a Kodiak bear being being hand-fed ice cream through a drive-thruwindow has prompted an investigation by safety and animal welfareofficials in Alberta.

The videoshows a one-year-old bear, namedBerkley, leaning out the driver's side window of a truck at a Dairy Queen inInnisfail, Alta., a community some 115 kilometres north of Calgary.A person is briefly visible in the truckbehind the bear.

It was posted toTwitter and Facebook on Jan. 14 by the nearby DiscoveryWildlife Park but has since been taken down.

• Ice-cream-eating bear raises concerns among wildlife experts

"We've gotBerkleyin the drive-thru testing out some ice cream so she can pick out her birthday cake," a man identifiedas Mark says in the video.

"We've added some peanuts to this batch and she seems to like it so I think we've got a winner here."

Another video posted by the park two days later showedBerkleylicking the frosting off an ice cream cake. In it,head zoo keeperSerenaBossays the bear also enjoys peanuts and eats Kraft Dinner about once a month.

Officials are looking into the first video and the zoo's permit, which is regulated by Alberta Environment and Parks.

"Public safety is a top priority for our government," said spokesman Brendan Cox. "The content of the video in question is disturbing and both Environment and Parks, and the Fish and Wildlife enforcement branch are actively investigating this incident.

Previous complaints

Bear experts are calling the video irresponsible and disrespectful.

"It's a challenge every day out there in our parks and protected areas to try to teach people who are visiting these places or live here in Alberta that we don't feed wildlife, that we don't feed bears," said KimTitchener, who runs a wildlife safety training business called Bear Safety & More.

"We need to conserve and protect them, and respect them."

Titchenersaid she's complained to the province, and to theanimal protection groupZoocheck, about the zoo before.

"I've seen images on their Facebook page of children next to the bears, people gettingselfies, kiss pictures, people getting the bear to kiss their face," she said.

ButBossaid there was no safety concern becauseBerkleywas on a chain while in the truck.

"There was never any public present. It was done long before the Dairy Queen even opened," she told The Canadian Press. "Berkleyis a captive bear, so not a wild bear in any way."

She also defended feeding her ice cream cake.

The cake "is nutritionally not going to harmBerkleyin any way," she said.

"If we would have given her a Black Forest cake, that would have definitely not been ideal to give her."

Zoo ownerDougBossaid the drive-thru video was supposed to be about safety.

"The message was: Don't feed the bears.Don't stop on the side of the road. If everybody would listen to the video that's what the message was, don't do this," he said.

He noted they may have to reconsider their approach.

Mark Kemball, owner of the Dairy Queen, said he wasn't concerned about his safety as he fed the bear.

"This bear is as tame as any animal I have ever seen," he said. "She is as gentle as can be. She has never been in the wild."

Video: Innisfail Dairy Queen/Facebook

7 years ago

Duration 9:26

This video shared on social media showing a bear being fed a Dairy Queen ice-cream cake on its birthday at the Discovery Wildlife Park is raising concerns among bear experts. See more: www.cbc.ca/1.4494087

'Very extreme concerns'

But Zoocheck executive director Rob Laidlawsays the bear's training does not make such situationsany safer.

"You can have a trained animal, whether it's a bear or a tiger or any number of other creatures, that does something 500 times in a row or 900 times in a row, but that901sttime, there might be a problem," he said.

Zoocheckhas had "historically a number of concerns" with Discovery Wildlife Park, he said.

"Some of them safety related, some of them with regard to enclosures and the actual housing conditions of the animals."

Zoocheckfound more than 50 violations of the Alberta zoo standards in a2015 reviewof the Discovery Wildlife Park.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) also saidin 2005 that thepark was unsafefor both animals and visitors.

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