What the what is that the San Francisco Zoo has gotten themselves in a bit of a pickle over the naming of two new grizzly bears that they rescued from Montana. The zoo thought it would be a great idea to hold a contest and so, with great fanfare, announced one. They thought the idea was so good, in fact, that they tried to get sponsorship for the contest to raise money. When all of the possible sponsors dropped out, the zoo quietly announced that instead of naming the bears based on the more than 750 contestant entries, they'll auction off the naming rights to the highest bidder. When Merrill and Cinnie Magowan paid $32,500 to name the bears after themselves, or at least their grandchildren's nicknames for them, the up met roar. The zoo now has a major PR nightmare on their hands for bailing on a hyped contest in a money grab. And as, expected, most of the anger and concern is over the children. Because what will we tell the children when they find out that all of their entries were thrown away and instead given to the highest bidder? We bet those kids are already contemplating a life of crime. Said one poster to an SFGate forum: "This is sick how some rich folk can name the bears after their family members."

Luckily, the McGowan's, long time supporters of the zoo and the in-laws of Giants'owner Peter Magowan, seem to be quite the agreeable couple and have announced that they will consider the 750 names or so when making their bought names official. They even went online to the SFGate forums to tell everyone that they won't name the bears after themselves. And for those wanting to vent, the monthly meeting of the Joint Zoo Committee will be held this Wednesday so vent away. As for the bears, when asked, one was heard to say "grrr...."