Innisfail is set to claim its mark in the Guinness World Records for having the planet's biggest animated bear.
The 23-foot tall steel grizzly bear, mounted on an oilfield pumpjack, has finally arrived at Discovery Wildlife Park.
The structure, which is hoped to be officially unveiled this Saturday at the park's annual ZooFest, culminates a 14-year dream of zoo owner Doug Bos.
“I've had the idea for the last 14 years and it finally came to fruition this year. The project really got rolling this spring,” said Bos. “It will be Alberta's most popular icon, and it will be visible from Highway 2 and it will make Innisfail known as the place with the bear because it is so huge. I am going to get a hold of Guinness World Records and we're going to push it through all the media and do YouTube videos on it.”
Bos said his younger brother Bert was the driving force in designing the animated steel grizzly, which is 12 feet tall at the shoulder and rising to 23 feet when standing up on its hind feet. The sculpture weighs 10,500 pounds.
“The original design was going to be a giraffe, and then a bear. So he designed a bear to work on this oilfield pumpjack and made a scale model of it. It turned out amazing,” said Bos, adding Gerald Graham of Lacombe then constructed it before it was moved last weekend to Innisfail.
This week the bear will receive its final touches, including a grizzly brown paint job. The rest of the structure will be painted black.
Bos said he has not yet tabulated the final cost for the construction of the sculpture but said the value is close to $50,000. He said he received about $40,000 in donations, mostly from companies that wanted to be affiliated with the project.
“We hope it will drive the economy of Innisfail and have people come out on a day-to-day basis to Innisfail to look at the bear,” said Bos. “Even if they don't stop at the park they could stop in town and get a coffee or an ice cream. People will just drive here to come and see it.”
Bos said the plan is to have the animated grizzly ready for the public at this Saturday's ZooFest. He said all Innisfail residents who come to the park from 10 a.m. to noon will get in free of charge. All visitors to the park will also receive a free pancake breakfast.
