"I can give it to him and he spits it out into his hand and gives it back to me."

Billy kept his snout to the ground, sniffing continuously and stopping frequently as he ambled in search of the tasty morsels that Theresa Wolfgang hid in a hollow tree stump and the grass of his wooded enclosure. 

The 5-year-old black bear was foraging for pre-breakfast appetizers at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens much like he would do normally do in the wild.

"He's a very healthy eater," said Wolfgang, a mammals keeper who cares for Billy and other animals in the zoo's Wild Florida exhibit.

That recent morning, Wolfgang brought Billy a few handfuls of crisp lettuce stuffed inside a pet activity ball, peanut butter and grape jelly smeared on a forage board and some chopped fruit and veggies.

It was part of a nutrient-rich breakfast that typically can also feature omnivore chow, live crickets, fresh produce, frozen fish or hard-boiled eggs.

Billy eats a lot healthier now than he did as a cub, when he would scavenge sugar-packed human junk food resulting in him being labeled a "problem bear" and being brought to the zoo to live instead of being euthanized.

Nonprofit and nationally recognized as an innovative facility, the Jacksonville Zoo is home to about 2,300 rare, exotic and native animals, saidDan Maloney, deputy zoo director for Animal Care, Conservation and Wellness.

Read more at the Florida Times Union