INNISFAIL - Discovery Wildlife Park has been charged by the province with two counts under the Wildlife Act as a result of a controversial video the zoo posted in January that showed a one-year-old Kodiak bear being fed ice cream while being driven through the local Dairy Queen drive-thru.
The charges, under Section 12(3) of the Wildlife Act, were laid after provincial fish and wildlife officers completed their investigation into the Innisfail zoo. The Wildlife Act allows for penalties no greater than $50,000 in fines and/or one year in jail.
The owners, Doug Bos and Debbi Rowland, are scheduled to appear in Red Deer provincial court on May 28.
In a statement released to the media on May 8, the province said the charges are directly related to the alleged failure of the park to notify the provincial government prior to the bear leaving the zoo in January. One count is related to the bear being taken through a restaurant drive-thru window for ice cream, and one is related to the bear leaving the facility on other occasions in 2017.
As well, the province said in its statement that Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) has revised the zoo's permit terms and conditions in several ways. AEP said Discovery Wildlife Park must transport any controlled animal or wildlife in a cage, a crate or a kennel of a size and construction that ensures public safety and the safe and humane treatment of the controlled animal or wildlife being transported.
"For greater certainty, Discovery Wildlife Park shall not transport any controlled animal or wildlife uncaged or uncrated in a vehicle," said the statement, which added the zoo cannot put any controlled animal or wildlife on display outside its facility without prior permission from an AEP official.
Bos said he was advised by the province three weeks ago that his zoo would be charged. As for the revisions to his permit terms and conditions, he said they have always been in place.
"We had a response on our Facebook page three weeks ago to this that we got charged," said Bos. "They are not new conditions. They are the same ones that were always there."
As for the charges and the renewed adverse publicity his zoo is receiving, he said he welcomes them as it proves the province is serious about enforcing its zoo regulations.
"We made a mistake. We never notified fish and wildlife. We took the animals off the property. It shows the public our industry is heavily regulated," he said. "They (province) did their job. I regret doing it. I am embarrassed about it, but on the same hand I hope it shows the public our industry is heavily regulated. If we make mistakes we have to suffer consequences."
