A private zoo in Canada is facing charges after taking a bear through a Dairy Queen drive-thru.

Video shows one-year-old bear Berkley, being hand-fed an ice cream through the window of the Calgary Dairy Queen earlier this year.

The remarkably well behaved animal, which is sitting in the passenger seat of the car, patiently waits for the fast food chain employee to offer out the cone as he took gentle bites of the treat.

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Video shows one-year-old bear Berkley, being hand-fed an ice cream through the window of the Calgary Dairy Queen earlier this year

The remarkably well behaved animal, which is sitting in the passenger seat of the car, patiently waits for the fast food chain employee to offer out the cone as he took gentle bites of the treat

The footage was posted by Discovery Wildlife Park, based in Innisfail, Canada, but was later removed after it sparked an angry backlash.

The zoo has hit back at critics, saying that Berkley was not a wild bear but had been born and raised in captivity. At the time they went to get ice cream, the Dairy Queen was not even open to the public, they said.

They also removed another video of Berkley licking frosting off an ice cream cake.

But authorities in Canada say the zoo broke the law by failing to inform them when an animal was taken off site.

Discovery Wildlife Park owners are now facing two charges; one for failing to inform officials they were taking the bear for ice cream, and another, dating from 2017, when staff would take a newly orphaned Berkley home at night so he could be bottle fed.

The footage was posted by Discovery Wildlife Park, based in Innisfail, Canada

But the video was later removed after it sparked an angry backlash

Owner Doug Bos said he was embarrassed and admits they made a mistake, saying they simply forgot. He plans to plead guilty to the charges.

But he told the Guardian he is glad that officials are taking their job so seriously.

'I'm glad that they followed through with it because it shows how strictly regulated the zoo industry is in the province,' he said.

'Because there are so many people out there that think it's not, they think anybody can just do anything they want.'

Bos said that officials didn't have a problem with their trip with Berkley to the Dairy Queen, simply that they hadn't asked them beforehand.

The owner added that they had taken several of the captive-born bears for use in commercials.

'We've done lots of TV commercials, Super Bowl commercials with bears and food … Some of them the bear was in a grocery store and wandered up and down the aisles.'

'These bears aren't just your average bear that we go snag out of the wild and do this.'

The zoo will now be required to keep more detailed records on where and when they take animals off the premises.

The owner is due to appear in court later this month.