Binky (polar bear)

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Binky was a polar bear who lived at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, AK, and was famous for mauling tourists.

He was found orphaned on the coast of the Beaufort Sea in 1974, and went to the Alaska Zoo the next year.

In July 1994, an Australian tourist climbed over the second of two safety rails to get a close-up photograph of the 20-year-old, 850-pound Binky and was bitten as the bear stuck his head through the bars and grabbed her. She suffered a broken leg and bite wounds. Another tourist caught the event on tape, including a picture of Binky wandering around an hour later with a red shoe dangling from his mouth. A T-shirt that read "Send more tourists - this one got away" with that photo became popular.

The next event, six weeks later, involved drunken teens skinny-dipping. Joshua J. Huyett, 19, was hospitalized in serious but stable condition with leg injuries after he got too close to the polar bear's cage and was mauled early on a Sunday morning.

Electrified fences and a motion detector were put in place to protect Binky and his cage-mate Nuka from further intrusions by tourists.

Binky and Nuka died in 1995 of an infection transmitted to them by food thrown by tourists.