North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP have identified but not arrested a suspect in the theft of a $4,000 wooden-bear carving from Baby Bear’s Ice Cream Shoppe in Chemainus.
The crime was caught early Monday on surveillance video that shows the 63-kilogram figure being forcefully wrenched from its perch outside the store and carried off.
The carving turned up Tuesday morning on a local forestry road, along with an apology note.
“I am so sorry for taking the bear,” it read.
Store owners Kathy and Ward Yeager added humour to the situation by taking the returned bear to Chemainus’s health centre for “treatment” and taking pictures of the visit. They are planning a spring garden party at the store after the bear is cemented in place in its usual spot between two other bear carvings — its mother and father.
Those bears were not taken, but the Yeagers have previously had two other bear carvings go missing from the store. Only one was found, but it was too damaged to put back on display.
