You don’t often hear stories about animals breaking into zoos for the same reason you don’t often hear about people breaking into prisons. Yes, these are 1-to-1 comparisons. An animal breaking into his zoo probably doesn’t know it’s a zoo, or what a zoo even is, but still, it’s just not something you expect to happen.
Well, it happened.
A wild black bear reportedly broke into the Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka, California, seemingly to say hi to other bears. The bear, which was described by the zoo as “polite,” was spotted casually leaning on a gate and watching the zoo’s resident black bears named Tule, Ishŭng, and Kunabulilh.
If you’re imagining a couple of neighbors sharing a beer over a picket fence, swap out the guys being dudes with a black bear being chill, and you’ve got the idea.
Lonely Black Bear Broke Into a California Zoo—and Made 3 Bear Friends
The zoo staff discovered the bear during a routine morning inspection of the Redwood Sky Walk, a gorgeous walking path through a Redwood forest. The bear didn’t act out. It didn’t throw a fit or go into a rage.
It peacefully wandered in from nearby Sequoia Park, though exactly how it did that is a bit of a mystery. Zoo staff say the perimeter fence separating the zoo from Sequoia Park showed no signs of damage at any point. But once it was in, the bear was as gentlemanly and as well-behaved as a black bear could be.
It didn’t enter any animal habitats, though it did briefly mess around with some “enrichment items,” which are essentially toys designed to stimulate an animal’s body and mind. It was as gentlemanly as a black bear could be. The bear was eventually escorted out of the zoo and back into the woods.
As the LA Times reports, these bear encounters tend to occur in and around Eureka, with residents reporting a bear sighting just last month. As always, zoo officials took all this as an opportunity to remind people that even though this particular bear seemed pretty chill, it’s still a wild animal and is liable to act on its instincts.
People should respect its boundaries, stay on walking trails, and always keep a safe distance if they do spot a bear in the wild or on the wrong side of the zoo enclosures.
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