Zookeepers charged after Kodiak bear rides shotgun to Dairy Queen Canadian law enforcement is bearing down on a pair of zoo owners whose wild trip to the local Dairy Queen wasn't quite the Kodiak moment they'd hoped for. Doug Bos and Debbie Rowland, who own the the Discovery Wildlife Park in Innisfail, Alberta, have been charged under the Wildlife Act after they took a one-year-old bear to …
Well yes.
But if they had got away with this "joke", how long before they (or someone else) do it again. And then until someone innocent (personally I don't care when dickheads get what's coming to them) gets killed.
What part of "wild" don't people understand about "wild animals" ?
This was a very young bear raised by humans at a zoo. It was about as dangerous as the neighbor's German Shepherd.
These people were trained zookeepers with extensive knowledge of animal behavior. I would trust their opinion much more than local law enforcement. We all know what geniuses most local law enforcement officers are!
"This was a very young bear raised by humans at a zoo. It was about as dangerous as the neighbor's German Shepherd."
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"There are some dogs which, when you meet them, remind you that, despite thousands of years of man-made evolution, every dog is still only two meals away from being a wolf. These dogs advance deliberately, purposefully, the wilderness made flesh, their teeth yellow, their breath a-stink, while in the distance their owners witter, "He's an old soppy really, just poke him if he's a nuisance," and in the green of their eyes the red campfires of the Pleistocene gleam and flicker."
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. 1990, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
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Still waiting for the Pterry icon, El Reg...
"This was a very young bear raised by humans at a zoo. It was about as dangerous as the neighbor's German Shepherd."
There are around 200,000 dog attacks per year in the UK. Blindly trusting that a dog is safe and well trained is a good way to end up in hospital. Probably not as good a comparison as you thought it was, even before you consider that bears are not domesticated, and young animals cannot have been fully trained.
It was about as dangerous as the neighbor's German Shepherd.
Caucasian Shepherd - maybe. Big. Fluffy. Looks cute. And deadly - compared to it a pitbull is a child's toy.
German Shepherd - not anywhere near.
By the way, an incorrectly raised, spoilt German Shepherd can be quite dangerous too.
This post has been deleted by its author
"This was a very young bear raised by humans at a zoo......These people were trained zookeepers with extensive knowledge of animal behavior."
I'll leave this here
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/01/rosa-king-zoo-keeper-killed-tiger-saw-animals-friends-say-parents/
It was about as dangerous as the neighbor's German Shepherd.
Based on what criteria? An average year old Kodiak bear weighs around 100lbs compared to a very large German Shepherd of 85lbs. This animal is most likely first or second generation in captivity compared to a German Shepherd with literally thousands of years of domestic breeding behind it. The zookeepers are not, presumably, animal trainers and were doing something that they most likely have little to no experience with and therefor little to nothing upon which to judge how the animal would act. Understand, too, that zoo enclosures are as much about keeping people from harming the animals as the other way around. In many jurisdictions, local law enforcement is responsible for animal control, including dealing with bears that wander into the area. They typically have at least some training in this area. I have seen this play out with bears on two occasions, both of which amounted to keeping people away and letting the animal get where it was heading. I have friends who have had to deal with bears in this capacity when they have got aggressive toward people. Also, I believe the article specified provincial government, not local. Finally, the zookeepers admitted they screwed up!
At least now we know what the Canadian equivalent to "Here, hold my beer!" is.
"This was a very young bear raised by humans at a zoo. It was about as dangerous as the neighbor's German Shepherd.
These people were trained zookeepers with extensive knowledge of animal behavior. I would trust their opinion much more than local law enforcement. We all know what geniuses most local law enforcement officers are!"
---------------------------------
Information free opinions are about as useful as one would expect.
Given that the charges were laid under the Wildlife Act, it is likely the 'local law enforcement' were Conservation Officers, whose function is to oversee and deal with interactions between humans and wildlife.
On the other hand, these 'roadside zoos' are tourist attractions run for money, usually by the owners, rather than the professionals found at large urban zoos.
A little research turns up the following:
--
"The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is an animal welfare
charity that works internationally and locally to end cruelty to animals through
field work, campaigning, and education. WSPA is the world’s largest federation
of humane societies and animal protection organizations,
representing over 802 member societies in more than 147 countries.
Zoocheck and WSPA have been monitoring the conditions in zoos across
Canada for many years. Discovery Wildlife Park (formerly known as Doug’s Zoo)
near Innisfail, Alberta has been a concern to both organizations for several years
due to its substandard animal husbandry conditions and safety practices.
Zoocheck and WSPA have documented many of these concerns in a variety of
reports and papers"
--
There's a lot more data about this out there if you actually take the time to look.
In this case it is likely that the officers were both more informed and less biased than the 'zookeepers' looking to create a 'social media moment' for advertising purposes to benefit their business.
"It was about as dangerous as the neighbor's German Shepherd."
-----------------------
If my neighbour had a German Shepherd, or any other large dog, I would be psychologically ready to kill it if it attacked, doubly so when in its presence.... it is the only prudent way to deal with the possibility.
Dogs are not inherently 'safe'.
In 65% of dog attacks, the victim is the owner, a family member, neighbour, or acquaintance known to the dog, and in 22% of cases relationship is not known. Dogs are not only dangerous, they are dangerous to people who probably come to trust them - a mistake, even with an animal that has been domesticated for about 10,000 years.
-- data via the Public Health Agency of Canada
... Dogs are not inherently 'safe'.
Apart from showing your obvious fear of dogs, the statistics are meaningless.
How many dogs are there in Canada ?
How many Dogs have attacked someone ?
What percentage is that ?
How does that translate into the statistical odds of you being attacked ?
(This does not even go into the circumstances of these attacks i.e. what was being done to the Dog at the time etc.)
All animals that are 'bigger/stronger/faster' than your average man/woman are inherently 'unsafe', so should all animals be banned ?
Re: Dogs, the question is how likely are they to be 'unsafe' in an average setting IF they are treated with respect and have a modicum of appropriate training.
(This does not mean 'Dressing them up' or 'dyeing them pretty colours' and any other act which is likely to stress them out.)
If you treat them like toys they will sometimes react !!!
If you treat them like animals and learn to understand their needs and body language suddenly the odds get better !!!
Few animals attack for no reason and will often give you a clear indicator something is wrong if you care to understand your animals/pets.
Owning and caring for animals/pets is a full time job but the risks are not like 'juggling live hand grenades' which these types of statistics tend to imply !!!
Many things in life have risk BUT you need to understand the 'real risks' and not get taken in by these scaremongering reports.
Finally, yes I am a dog owner (2 infact) BUT I don't think they are fluffy little toys and don't let inexperienced people manhandle them like they are.
I have a duty to protect the public from them as best I can BUT it works both ways and I also have to protect them from the mis-informed public. !!!
Every day people are killed/injured because of their own lack of knowledge or even stupidity around animals.
Case in point people being killed by Cows, that most people would assume are not dangerous and are hardly going to savage you ....... only they will protect their young and if you march through a herd when there are young about you will be surrounded and potentially crushed or trampled in the process.
[Cows are awfully big/heavy when you get close.]
In a nutshell , don't get frightened by statistics, understand the real risks and understand how to treat animals. (Including NOT taking a young wild animal, with big claws and teeth, to a place where they are likely to get scared by something out of your control !!!)
Cubs act differently than grown up animals. Our local Zoo sometimes gives baby animals to volunteers when they can't be properly cared for at the zoo itself. A girl I know had a baby tiger in her home when she was little (and some baby chimps). It was like having a (slightly larger) kitten. BTW it's fully grown now, but still recognizes her and allows her to pet it. I do think that it's a horrible idea on her part, but I've seen photos of her petting it through the bars that close the entrance into the tiger's space (which she can access because she volunteers at the zoo herself now). Also, I know a guy who works with animals on film productions, even wolves among others ("his" wolves were in a very famous TV series, but they were only cast as ordinary wolves, the particularly large ones that the show also features were, of course, CGI). He can work with them while they are very young, after they turn one year and their instincts fully kick in, they have to be released into the wild.
Even so, though, it's not always rosy. One time, he was working for a British director and the film contained a scene in which the main protagonist was being attacked by wolves in the snow. For that scene, he was doubling for the lead actor (for obvious reasons), and, despite those being "his" wolves, he was still dressed up in protective gear (hidden by the winter clothes), ant it turned out to be a really good decision: the animals got a little carried away and nearly choked him. Nobody realized that the struggle was real and the director was thrilled and just wanted to do one more take until she saw his face all grey and realized what had happened.
Kinder Eggs not withstanding.
Funny you should mention those. My wife spotted some in a store here in the TRUMP(R) USofA just recently.
However, not the original Kinder Eggs. These have apparently been modified (two packages: one for the chocolate and one for the toy) to be safe for USA children.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/the-us-is-finally-lifting-its-ban-on-kinder-eggs-a3691696.html
Oh, it's way more out of control up in Canada. Just look up Canada's Human Rights Tribunals to see what I mean--it's terrible what they're doing to people in the name of human rights because it's having a chilling effect on free speech.
The only reason I even know about their humorless culture, was because they fined a guy who was barely more than an open mic comic $15k for insulting lesbians that were heckling him on-stage. It appears that since then, it's gotten even worse, because they've done it a few more times and ratcheted up the fines considerably.
Apparently, the only place that Canadian's still appear to have a sense of humor is in Montreal, during their annual comedy festival. I can't speak to whether or not that carries over through the rest of the year, but I'm sure that the local comics performing in Montreal are already pulling punches to to stay out of trouble.
"Wow, here I am thinking that having a sense of humor was being outlawed here in the US. Now I find out that Canada is following along with us! Poor bastards!"
Stop and think for a moment, please.
It is very important to avoid instilling bad behaviours or expectations into an animal the can grow into a 600 kg. killing machine - along with polar bears the largest non-herbivoire in North America. Teaching it to take food from people, feeding it personally, is preparing the way for someone to be badly hurt or killed.
It has repeatedly become necessary to cull bears that are too comfortable with people, or dependent upon them for food, so it's not safe for the bear, either.
When I was growing up on the Isle of Wight it was not unusual to see white tiger cubs being taken for a walk on the beach at Yaverland by the staff of Sandown Zoo.
All these killjoys should be transported to Beigeland by rocket via the centre of the sun (or as close as they can get)
Dumb Canadian laws include:
A Toronto businessman found that to sell edible underwear in his “adult entertainment” store, he’d need a food license;
“Yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling or singing is prohibited at all times” is illegal in Petrolia, Ontario;
Until May 28th, 2012 you could only legally move a bottle of booze from one province to another with the permission of the provincial liquor control board;
Since 1973, the only noise-makers Sudbury, Ontario, cyclists can attach to their bikes are bells and horns. Breaking noise bylaws in Sudbury can lead to fines up to $5,000;
It’s illegal to skinny dip in Bancroft, Ontario;
Canada’s Currency Act of 1985 limits to the number of coins you can use in a transaction. If it’s nickels, vendors can say no to any purchase over $5, while the loonie limit is $25;
Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality Bylaws for Taxis and Limousines stipulates drivers must wear shoes and socks, keep their attire in neat and tidy condition at all times, and absolutely cannot weart-shirts;
It’s illegal to build big snowmen in Souris, P.E.I. If you live on a corner lot it’s against the law to built a snowman taller than 30-inches.;
It was illegal to sell butter-coloured margarine in Ontario until 1995;
Canadian law currently states, “Everyone commits an offence who… (b) makes, prints, publishes, distributes, sells or has in his possession for the purpose of publication, distribution or circulation a crime comic.”
Many Canadian communities long restricted the use of outside clotheslines;
In Toronto there's a zoning by-law that only allows up to two mechanical gaming machines in a restaurant or place of amusement;
In Toronto, if your day-to-day vocabulary is riddled with expletives, steer clear of publicly owned green spaces. There's a large fine of over $200;
Chickens, hens, turkeys, and pretty much every other farm animal are prohibited in Toronto with a $240 fine to suggest you comply.
Typical bureaucratic and elected officials' stupidity and/or nannyism. It's not just Canada as down here below the border we have a lot of stupid laws like that. Too many to list in fact.
It's either some special interest such as "think of the children", monetary interest for much of this, or, it's just some elected drone who wants to be seen as "doing something" come election time. It runs amok in the whole governmental food chain from locals to the national. Not sure what we can do about it except maybe bulldoze all government and start over.
Admittedly many of them are OTT but there are some perfectly fine ones within them.
For example, what's wrong with restricting gaming machines to two per premises? At worst, it shares out the gambling revenue between many providers?
Why worry about such trivial ones when, here in the UK, major laws are disregarded as a matter of course every second of the day?
"It’s illegal to skinny dip in Bancroft, Ontario;"
Umberto Eco says somewhere that you can always tell what a society does a lot of by what's illegal. The amount of water in and around Bancroft is enormous, so perhaps this law is to deal with the uncontrollable urge of much of the population to throw off their clothes and enter the nearest body of water, on the basis that it prevents a lot of hypothermia in winter.
Canada’s Currency Act of 1985 limits to the number of coins you can use in a transaction. If it’s nickels, vendors can say no to any purchase over $5, while the loonie limit is $25;
...and here's the odd thing: the TOONIE LIMIT (Part I, Section 8(2)(a)) is, not $50, as you might expect, but $40. (both coins weigh the same)
So much for those sensible Canadians, eh?
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-52/page-1.html
I see a lot of ignorant comments here by people who just don't know about bears and how to take care of them, although I agree this case is not a common situation. People in other countries where they don't have an issue trying to protect the wildlife should see how many bears get put down in Canada because they've become dangerous from people's unthinking interactions with them. The wildlife branch in Canada is very much on the side of the bears. We get them all the time where I live and we have to be careful with leaving food out and so on. However, here's a picture I took of a bear helping himself to the apples across from my house.
We get them all the time where I live and we have to be careful with leaving food out and so on. However, here's a picture I took of a bear helping himself...
Personified: He's actually your neighbor living in the woods down the block, except he likes to 'take' any leftovers left in other neighbor's backyard.
Now that they've done away with "Grid Girls"* and have taken to exploiting kids, couldn't the organisers of the Montreal procession, ooops i mean, F1 race arrange for the bear ( and his mates) to participate. I'd wager a bear would love the open top drivers parade lap.
If the Russkies can have a bear present a football to a ref, i'm sure the Canucks could arrange for a few bears to have a jolly good day or two out. With correct permits/licensing of course.
There used to be a stuffed bear outside a London shop. So many people had stroked it that the fur was worn off in places. Consequently it became known as Fred Bear. (*threadbare, geddit?)
Internet points if you know the shop!
*You may need to use a Dick Van Dyke Cockney accent.
Canada's laws about child saftey seats are very complicated. They mandate either a rear-facing, forward facing saftey seat or booster seat based on the child's wieght. If the bear weighed over 36kg it would be totally legal with just the seat belt*.
*Were it a person, loose animals are also not allowed in cars, they have to be crated. This includes dogs, but people still let their dogs run around their cars anyway. The fine isn't very high.
https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services/road/child-car-seat-safety/buying-child-car-seat-booster-seat.html
1. Taking a bear out for a ride without due authorization is a big no-no, letting it near other people is putting lives at risk, also, big no-no!
2. These people clearly do not know what constitutes a healthy diet for a bear, what are they in charge of, again ? WTF ?
The other day, I turned on the TV for the 5yo (we hardly ever watch TV, around here) for a "best of animal videos from the web" and we saw animals, wild and not, being treated in degrading ways, being fed stuff that harms them or makes them sick, being stressed or even tortured, and nobody seems to care, they even go as far as broadcasting them on TV, THAT so got me to turn the bloody thing off again ... This world to so totally f'd up!
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