Who ever heard of a bear voluntarily going to the zoo? Maybe ones that like tigers, like a black bear who invaded the Anchorage Zoo on Wednesday, forcing the facility’s temporary closure.
UPDATED STORY: Wild bear wanders into @AlaskaZoo, closing it for hours http://t.co/XYvmt4BkcI pic.twitter.com/EEcVq5lh0y
— Anchorage Daily News (@adndotcom) July 22, 2015
The incident happened early in the morning, around 6 a.m., according to the Alaska Dispatch News. They also provided details about the bear’s apparent affinity for trees and other zoo animals:
“Well, the bear — we’re not sure of gender — is up in a tree in the back of the zoo by the tigers,” Director of Development Jill Myer said, standing in front of bright yellow handwritten signs at the zoo’s entrance that explained the closure and the fact the loose bear did not belong to the zoo.
Alaska Zoo is closed .. a wild black bear made his way into the zoo..spending a lazy afternoon in a tree. @ktva pic.twitter.com/JXiZsPoOsC
— Jacquie Slater (@jacquieslater) July 22, 2015
Apparently, the tigers were into it, too:
“The tigers were very excited about the new resident. They were actually put into their nighttime dens. And the wolves were very curious,” Myer said with a laugh. “A couple of the wolves were like ‘no’ and it took a while to get them in.”
The bear finally left in the early afternoon of its own accord. Zoo officials speculate that it was recently pushed away by its mother to be on its own, which shows how cruel Mother Nature can sometimes be. If the bear comes back though, maybe zookeepers will allow it to stay, as it has done before:
“Many years ago we had a black bear that just kept coming back,” Myer said. “So we made him a home here. And George the magpie, she flew here. We brought her to Bird TLC and everything, but it was clear she had spent a long time in captivity. So we kept her.”
(Via Alaska Dispatch News)