Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center was packed on Saturday, with hundreds of visitors filling up the parking lot and eventually directed to park in a nearby field.
Though most came to view and pet a variety of baby animals, however, one small group of people came to protest the event.
They were led by Alex Baldwin, research and content specialist with the PETA Foundation, an animal rights nonprofit that opposes people using animals for any reason.
“This is the fourth year in a row that families have gathered to peacefully protest the Baby Animal Days ... because they include Bear World,” Baldwin said.
The controversy of Bear World
Bear World, officially called Yellowstone Bear World, is a privately-owned drive-thru wildlife park near Rexburg, Idaho. It has free-roaming wildlife, a small amusement park, a petting zoo and opportunities to feed wild animals and bottle-feed bear cubs.
PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has campaigned against Bear World for several years now, including doing an undercover investigation into the park. Though the organization is notorious for aggressive and sometimes controversial media stunts, the protest on Saturday was quiet and explicitly peaceful. Participants — not all associated with PETA — held signs up to passing drivers with phrases like “baby bears are not photo props” and “baby animals belong with their mothers.”
Why were these protestors against Bear World specifically, though? According to Baldwin, the park breeds bears for profit and exploitation, causing physical and mental distress to the animals in the process.
“Year after year, Bear World breeds the bears and then they remove the cubs from the mothers when they’re only weeks old,” Baldwin said. “And all of it is to make money off these lucrative encounters and events like this one here.”
Bottle-feeding at Bear World is $75 per person, not including admission price, which is about $27 for adults.
How wildlife attractions affect bears
Multiple studies have shown stereotypic behaviors in captive bears such as rocking and pacing, which are signs of stress and depression. This is possibly due in part to a lack of natural stimuli and roaming space. Baldwin said “numerous bears” at Bear World have been shown displaying these behaviors.
A review of research on captive bears from 2018 also found it is unlikely for captive-born bears who are reared by humans to develop the skills necessary for life in the wild or for behaving appropriately in relation to humans and other bears.
“The bear cubs have been documented trying to nurse on staff’s arms and chins and other bears’ ears since their chance to naturally nurse from their mother has been stolen from them,” Baldwin said.
Wildlife attractions like Bear World are generally held to lower standards than a zoo or sanctuary, which have their own agencies for accreditation and strict standards for both the care and recordkeeping of animals.
Bear World is still subject to the USDA's animal welfare regulations, however, which includes standards for feeding, sanitation and facilities, among others.
Bear World did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Other controversies
Outside of the ethics of keeping wild animals, Bear World has faced other controversies. Deseret News reported in 2021 that over the last decade, the park sent at least 65 cubs and 19 adult bears to Gregg Woody, an animal broker in Illinois who’s been cited for animal rights violations including sending bears to slaughter. Some of the transfers occurred while Woody’s license was suspended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, though Bear World was legally not considered at fault for that.
(Notably, PETA has faced its own controversy for euthanizing over 83% of the animals taken into their shelter in Norfolk, Virginia from 1998 to 2019. PETA has said this is because it has an open-door policy of taking in animals ‘no-kill’ shelters would not accept.)
Bear World also has received multiple citations from the Idaho Fish and Game and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Issues included allowing the public to feed captive wildlife against state law and having insufficient training for its employees on bear spray, which can be hazardous to humans.
Less than a year after this, the park wrote a bill which was passed by Idaho lawmakers to make wildlife exhibit businesses like themselves exempt from state regulations related to captive wildlife, including regulations they were cited by Idaho Fish and Game for.
What protestors want
American West Heritage Center has been displaying bears from Yellowstone Bear World at every annual Baby Animal Days event since 2010 and it is often advertised as one of the top attractions.
Unlike at Yellowstone Bear World’s main facility, however, attendees were only allowed to look at the bear cubs, not touch or bottle-feed them. Still, protestors claimed being on display for hours at a time is stressful for the bear cubs and that it’s unethical to give support to Bear World at any event.
Mic Bowen, executive director of the American West Heritage Center, declined to comment.
PETA has long called for Bear World to stop breeding bears, end their cub encounters with the public and to send their bears to reputable facilities. This protest specifically called for the American West Heritage Center, which puts on Baby Animal Days, to cut ties with Bear World.
“Bear World is tearing families apart, so we're inviting local families here to help break the cycle of suffering by staying away from Bear World and staying away from all of its exploitative events, including this one,” Baldwin said.
“Trafficking baby bears is not part of our heritage,” one protestor added. “This is the American West Heritage Center. That’s not part of our heritage.”
