Zoo Being Sued Over Bear Getting Ice Cream at Drive-Thru

This bear was caught on camera getting and enjoying an ice cream cone at a Canadian Dairy Queen drive-thru. The sight looks adorable, but some people will have to face charges because while the incident was “cute,” it is likely dangerous.

The owners of a private Canadian zoo have been charged after the said incident involving a bear from their facility.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Video shows the bear in a Dairy Queen drive-thru, leaning out of a truck&#39;s window for a frozen treat 🍦 <a href="https://t.co/3HZigKLlKd">https://t.co/3HZigKLlKd</a></p>&mdash; New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/994598211993075713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Wildlife officials found out about the incident, and the bear’s little trip to the popular ice cream parlor after the Discover Wildlife Park innocently posted a video on social media showing the one-year-old Kodiak bear named Berkley leaning out of the truck’s passenger window to reach for the ice cream treat.

The video also shows the animal consuming the ice cream with full energy as the narrator says: “Bears can smell 21 times better than the average dog and 2, 100 better than humans.”

The video has since been removed, along with another clip that shows the bear licking frosting on an ice cream cake.

The zoo is now facing charges under Alberta’s Wildlife Act for taking the bear out of the enclosure without informing authorities and getting their approval.

The charges do not only cover the “ice cream field trip of the bear” but also include a past transgression dating back to last year where the same bear was brought home for nightly bottle-feeding.

The zoo’s owner, 28-year-old Doug Bos, said he is planning to plead guilty to the charges. He admitted: “We made a mistake. I’m embarrassed about it. Every time we take an animal off the property, we’re supposed to notify Fish and Wildlife, send them an email, and we forgot to do that in both instances.”

Bos even praised the strict regulation governing the zoo industry in the province.

Zoo officials maintained, however, that the Dairy Queen excursion for the bear did not pose a danger to the public and that the visit happened even before the ice cream store opened.

Aside from the charges, the zoo’s permit has been amended with additional conditions including making it mandatory for them to provide more details when requesting permission to transport their zoo animals.

Source:

https://nypost.com/2018/05/10/zoo-owners-arrested-for-letting-bear-go-get-ice-cream/