Booboo's owner: "My fault' bear escaped, willing to pay search-and-rescue costs



The Golden Gate Estates man who owns Booboo, a 125-pound grizzly bear on the loose last week, said Saturday it was handler error that enabled the cub to flee — and he will pay for the three-day search.

"It was my fault," said Dexter Osborn, 27, who operates "A Grizzly Experience," a touring educational show, with his wife, Megan, 24. "It was just a freak accident. … We did have a black bear in our area the night before and a lot of the bears were uneasy the next day. He got spooked and got lost. I should have paid attention to the signs.

"I'm not blaming the black bear. It could have been many different things, maybe another female," he said, adding, however, bears usually don't "feel their oats" until age 4 or 5. "He was actually found with another black bear. He was found out in swampland."

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers, who found Booboo on Friday morning, 2.3 miles away, are investigating the cause of the escape to determine what actions to take, how it can be prevented, as well as assessing costs of the search.

News of the search and an FWC officer's recommendation to clap your hands and say, "Bear, go home" hit national news and the Jimmy Kimmel Live show, where Kimmel joked he didn't know clapping hands in Florida did more than turn lights on and off.

"Clapping, it just pushes them along," Osborn explained.

The couple, their 18-month-old boy, Hayden, their three dogs and three bears tour the country on and off eight months each year, going to fairs, festivals and doing film work.

"It's not a circus show. It's completely natural," he said, adding, "We've done stuff for the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and MTV."

"We teach people how to be safe while they're camping and hiking out in bear country and how to be up close and personal with the animals," he said. "Our bears demonstrate their behavior during the shows. They stand and show how they can use their hands."

The couple own three grizzlies: an 8-year-old named Tonk, Booboo and Yogi, 2-year-old brothers who are all kept on a 2-acre habitat. Osborn didn't allow the media to go near the bears or their habitat in the 4600 block of 43rd Avenue Northeast on Saturday.

Osborn, who has a state license to keep the bears, said he's had bears for 10 years, never had an accident, and FWC inspected their property a day before Booboo fled.

"It was the first time they've ever been separated," Megan Osborn said of the young brothers who were born at a Georgia zoo and donated to them. "Yogi knew he was gone. You could tell he had anxiety."

The bears eat about 15 pounds of food daily, a mixture of high-protein dog food, fruits, vegetables, raw chicken and fish. They used to get donations from a produce shop, but now buy it all.

"They eat all the leftovers you can imagine and the occasional cheeseburger from McDonald's," he said. "They love fruits and vegetables, mainly apples and oranges and tomatoes. They eat it all as a whole."

"Tonk likes when you scratch his back and the cubs like it when you blow in their nose," he said. "It's a source of communication. It's more like a greeting. They like to smell your breath."

The couple shovels the enclosures and hose them down daily to sanitize them. They use bear scat to fertilize their garden, where they grow tomatoes, corn and sweet potatoes.

Neighbors have portrayed the couple as responsible bear owners, noting the bears haven't caused any trouble in a neighborhood where black bears freely roam.

Dexter Osborn thanked the Collier County Sheriff's Office, FWC and the bear biologists who searched and eventually found Booboo.

"It's a nightmare everybody wishes would not happen," he said. "But it had a happy ending."