Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 12, 1994                   TAG: 9410120053
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Sandra Brown Kelly
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BINKY BEAR, BOTHERED BY HUMANS, TAKES A BITE OUT OF CRIME

The Commercialization of Binky is a grassroots success story.

Binky is a polar bear who lives at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. Because he's a polar bear, he reminds people of the grinning and cuddly looking bear in the Coca-Cola commercial. Until recently, Binky was just an animal that 15 years ago bit the finger off a zookeeper.

Now, Binky also has a commercial persona and it's not like the one of his lovable Coke relative. Binky is tough.

In July, Binky made news for mauling an Australian tourist. A fellow tourist caught it all on film, so the Anchorage Daily News was able to run a memorable picture of Binky staring through bars on his cage and holding the tourist's tennis shoe in his mouth. Binky pulled off the shoe as the woman tried to escape.

The woman survived the mauling with a broken leg and bite wounds and later appeared on television to apologize for climbing two fences to get closer to Binky to take photographs. She also promised not to sue the zoo.

The mauling spawned a flurry of interest in the zoo and people flocked to see the 850-pound bear.

T-shirts were printed with a picture of the shoe-in-the-mouth Binky and the slogan: "Send more tourists - this one got away."

Then, in early September, it happened again.

This time, Binky mauled a teen-ager who, with three friends, climbed three fences to get near the polar bear pen. The fences included an 8-foot-high chain-link fence with three strands of barbed wire on top and a 3-foot-high fence in front of the cage.

Apparently, the group planned a late-night skinny dip in the 12-foot-deep polar bear pool. The 19-year-old was bitten before being pulled away by a friend. When help arrived, Binky was walking around with a pair of pants and a shoe in his mouth.

The youths were charged with trespassing and underage drinking. The zoo added additional fencing, which included two strands of electric wire outside the cage and a motion sensor that blares an alarm.

But, Binky's fan club swelled further.

Jokes: "The state won't be asking for any jail time for the kid - it already has its pound of flesh."

More T-shirts: "Binky's Catch and Release Club" from Stellar Designs, (907) 562-4248.

Music: An Anchorage comedy revue worked up a rap song, "Bad Blood Binky," that includes the lines: "Drink a case of Bud and act real cool/Like a teen-age mutant brain-dead fool."

Editorial cartoon: Binky saying to his cage-mate, Nuka: "Mauled teen-ager, my butt - How about 'Hero bear prevents youth from drowning?'"

And pro-Binky letters: One suggested that a day be set aside for people to come and play with Binky if they want to. This, the writer suggested, would lower the food bill for Binky and raise test scores in Alaskan schools.

Wishful thinking: Bet Binky could really get his mouth on the Energizer Bunny.