Breakfast with the Bears: Dining With the Biggest Animal at the Ecomuseum Zoo
Wildlife sanctuary welcomes visitors to conceive menu for their resident black bear
Located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, the Ecomuseum Zoo attends to orphaned, injured and domesticated wildlife. This includes Genie, an 11-year-old black bear (Ursus americanus). Breakfast with the bears, hosted by the wildlife sanctuary, is a monthly event where visitors create a variety of meal enrichments meant to stimulate her natural behaviour.
Born in 2011 at the Zoo Sauvage de Saint-Félicien, Genie was transferred to the Ecomuseum Zoo on May 22, 2014 for educational purposes. In the fall, the event resumed, as the previous black bear, Juno, passed away earlier that same year.
The latest Breakfast with the Bears occurred on Sept. 11 and was hosted by Nicki Fleming, the coordinator of the educational program and a practicing zoologist.
“Some of Genie’s favourite enrichments include watermelon, raspberries and drupes such as peaches and plums,” said Fleming, adding that the black bear dislikes fish.
The next Breakfast with the bears will occur on Oct. 1, from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
