THE DAILY WIRE · ALBERTA, CANADA · 2026-09-11
Grizzly Bear Briefly Off-Leash, Zoo Assures Nation It's Fine
A grizzly bear left its designated enclosure at the Calgary Zoo, and officials would like everyone to know that at no point was public safety at risk, a phrase this column has learned to treat with the same skepticism as 'the check is in the mail.'
The zoo confirmed the escape and stated there was no danger to visitors, though it has not detailed exactly how a several-hundred-pound apex predator wandering off-script qualifies as low-risk news.
This reporter has covered enough zoo containment failures to know 'no risk' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, but credit where due — nobody got hurt, and the bear, presumably, had a nice walk.
Gaston, a beaver working the canal system adjacent to zoo grounds, was tracked down for comment on the incident and what it's like sharing a watershed with a facility that occasionally misplaces predators.
His perspective on zoo security was, unsurprisingly, unflattering.
Spun and done.
“No risk to the public, sure, but nobody's asked what it did to my dam schedule. I've had run-ins with bears before and the trick is to just look busy chewing something, works every time.” — Gaston, local beaver
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