Bear necessities: Lancaster residents join suit to give bear some elbow room

Amanda Welling's fond recollections of a York County ice cream shop are spoiled by the memory of a bear.

Now, Welling wants Little Ricki, a 19-year-old black bear, to get a little breathing room.

"She looks like a sad bear," said Welling, of Lancaster.

Ricki -- also identified as Ricky in the complaint -- has lived some 18 years in a small, chain-link enclosure at Jim Mack's Ice Cream on Lincoln Highway, Hellam Township.

Veterinarians said the bear is "suffering immensely," according to a civil complaint filed in York this week by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, a national nonprofit animal-rights organization, against James H. McDaniel Jr. of Hellam Township, who owns Jim Mack's.

The ALDF says Ricki suffers from stress, and is given an inadequate diet and inadequate housing.

ALDF spokeswoman Megan Backus said McDaniel was served with papers Tuesday.

McDaniel did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

Welling, one of four people named on the suit, wants Ricki released into the care of a wildlife sanctuary.

"When I was a kid, I just loved animals. We would go to Mack's -- it was a family place for us," said Welling, 29. "I'd go with my mom, my grandmother. We'd get ice cream and look at the animals.

"When I was really little, I didn't know any better. As I got older, it really started to bother me, and as a teenager I stopped going. I wasn't back until this summer. ... I went with husband, and there Ricki was. It really upset me.

"That's when I started getting involved."

Roadside zoos "are an embarrassment" in this day and age, Welling said. She began writing about Ricki's plight online, which brought her to the ALDF's attention.

The ALDF in August asked Welling and three others to act as local representatives in the case, she said.

The second plaintiff -- Kelly Bennett, also of Lancaster -- contacted the ALDF after the organization relocated a bear named Ben from an enclosure in North Carolina to a sanctuary in California.

According to the suit, veterinarians said Ricki is suffering due to "the tiny size of her enclosure, its hard concrete floor, the absence of any environmental enrichment, her inability to engage in essential bear activities such as climbing and foraging, and other deprivations."

A sanctuary has been found that is willing to take Ricki, Welling said. There, she said, the bear would have more than 200 times the space she has now, which is roughly 250 square feet.

Welling said she doesn't know McDaniel but has nothing against him personally.

"I don't hate the business. I don't hate Jim Mack's," she said. "I love their food -- it was a family staple of mine for many years. I'd love to go back there.

"I just don't think they need a bear for their brand. Jim Mack's has enough going for it without her."

Angela Santmier and Matthew Gulczynski of Red Lion are also plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges McDaniel has been cited often, most recently in October, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture "for failing to provide regular veterinary care and for failing to maintain necessary fencing for the safety of humans and animals."

Farm animals on display at Jim Mack's have a larger area to move around in, Welling said.

"Ricki has enough space -- I counted -- to take about nine bear steps from one side of her cage to her cubby hole," she said. "She just paces back and forth. She looks dirty. They don't provide her with any sort of foraging opportunities. There's no real area to climb or explore. She hardly ever has clean water.

"It's very sad. I refuse to go back there."