Video star: The name is Twinkles and she doesn’t always wave
By Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News
SEQUIM — Trying to make a drowsy 700-pound Kodiak grizzly bear wave its paw at you in the dead of winter is next to impossible.
They are supposed to be hibernating, after all.
But when one of Olympic Game Farm’s grizzlies — many of which are retired film or circus performers — gave a video-recording visitor a quick, cute, human-like wave a year ago in June, it became an overnight sensation last week on YouTube.
The seven-second clip of Twinkles, a 20-year-old female grizzly that was born and raised on the farm, went viral on the Internet, with more than 2.8 million views by Saturday night.
U.S. morning television talk shows, British TV and Internet news sites picked it up around the world.
It can be seen on YouTube.com at http://tinyurl.com/pdntwinkles or by going to YouTube and typing “waving bear” in the search field.
“It’s kind of crazy,” said Robert Beebe, president of the game farm at 423 Ward Road, on Friday.
It was Tuesday morning that Beebe and Jamie Pate, game farm tour manager, learned about the video when a French newspaper called them.
“They asked us if we knew about it, and we didn’t,” Pate said.
The television show “Inside Edition” called next.
“The first day, it looked like there were 350,000 hits on YouTube,” Pate said.
“The next morning, there were about 750,000, and then Thursday, there were more than a million.”
It aired on ABC TV’s “Good Morning America” and early Tuesday was posted at Yahoo.com and America Online and its news website, The Huffington Post.READ MORE AT:http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20111218/NEWS/312189990/video-star-the-name-is-twinkles-and-she-doesn-8217-t-always-wave
They are supposed to be hibernating, after all.
But when one of Olympic Game Farm’s grizzlies — many of which are retired film or circus performers — gave a video-recording visitor a quick, cute, human-like wave a year ago in June, it became an overnight sensation last week on YouTube.
The seven-second clip of Twinkles, a 20-year-old female grizzly that was born and raised on the farm, went viral on the Internet, with more than 2.8 million views by Saturday night.
U.S. morning television talk shows, British TV and Internet news sites picked it up around the world.
It can be seen on YouTube.com at http://tinyurl.com/pdntwinkles or by going to YouTube and typing “waving bear” in the search field.
“It’s kind of crazy,” said Robert Beebe, president of the game farm at 423 Ward Road, on Friday.
It was Tuesday morning that Beebe and Jamie Pate, game farm tour manager, learned about the video when a French newspaper called them.
“They asked us if we knew about it, and we didn’t,” Pate said.
The television show “Inside Edition” called next.
“The first day, it looked like there were 350,000 hits on YouTube,” Pate said.
“The next morning, there were about 750,000, and then Thursday, there were more than a million.”
It aired on ABC TV’s “Good Morning America” and early Tuesday was posted at Yahoo.com and America Online and its news website, The Huffington Post.READ MORE AT:http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20111218/NEWS/312189990/video-star-the-name-is-twinkles-and-she-doesn-8217-t-always-wave
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