Alaska Zoo polar bear gifted giant, plastic pickle

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A sandwich shop sent in the welcome committee for the Alaska Zoo's newest addition, but their gift for the animals put the zoo in quite a pickle.

Cranbeary is a female polar bear who formerly lived at the Denver Zoo, and she's now settling into her new Alaskan home.

To help her feel at home, a local restaurant got an idea. Daneille Wynne is the co-owner at the Polar Dip and she told KTVA, "We had heard through the grapevine that Cranbeary's favorite toy when she was at the Denver Zoo was a pickle, and us being a sandwich shop, we thought that would be a really fun opportunity to welcome her to the zoo."

The Polar Dip raised money for six weeks and bought a five pound, 40 inch plastic pickle for about $250. The gift was a hit, discovered immediately by Cranbeary. "We didn't have a full understanding of just how much she enjoyed this pickle," said Jill Myer, the development director for the zoo.

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Everything was going sweet until the bigger male polar bear, named Lyutyik (Lou), saw the pickle and decided to make a big dill about it.  He took the pickle and has refused to share it with Cranbeary. "We didn't realize it was going to be so popular. They have been fighting over it," said Wynne.

The biggest pickle now is that the zoo doesn't have another pickle. "Hopefully we'll get two pickles so there wont be so much competition," said Myer.

Already, an elementary school class has promised to help raise more money for more polar bear pickles. Until then, the bears will have to learn how to share.

The zoo says it still needs to inspect the pickle donation to make sure the toy is safe for the polar bears.

CNN/KTVA