Buc-ee's bans service duck, its owner from all locations in viral video. Here's why
Turns out beavers and ducks don't get along. Well, kind of.
Wrinkle the duck, who has amassed millions of fans on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok for traveling the U.S. with his owners Joyce Kung and Justin Wood, was recently banned from all Buc-ee's locations for life after an employee at a store in Sevierville, Tennessee, called the police on Wood and his feathered friend.
Wrinkle's trip to the world's largest Buc-ee's was chronicled in a video posted to his "SeDucktive" social media accounts Jan. 19. In it, Wood takes Wrinkle into the store in a baby stroller, occasionally letting him stroll about the store on his own two webbed feet. An employee approaches the pair but lets them continue after Wood presents Wrinkle's service animal certification.
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How did Wrinkle get banned for life?
Customers in the video, which has garnered over 183,000 views, pet and interact with Wrinkle, who seems to love the attention. The fun is cut short, however, when another employee tells Wood that service animals must be restrained or leashed in some way. Wood mimes putting a leash on Wrinkle and walking him around, prompting the employee to call police.
The video shows police stopping Wood as he leaves Buc-ee's and giving him a citation warning him against trespassing on any Buc-ee's property.
"It's not my decision ... it's theirs," one of the responding officers says to Wood in the video, referring to Buc-ee's management. "It just says you're banned from all Buc-ee's property."
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Where has Wrinkle the duck been?
Wrinkle was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and has traveled "from New York City to California and everywhere in between."
Wrinkle's YouTube account currently has 2.74 million subscribers. The videos range from the semi-mundane (how to pick up a duck) to destinations like San Francisco and Boston. A video titled "I Took My Duck to Hooters" (during a trip to Mall of America) was one of the most popular and has been viewed 4.4 million times. Other bizarre visits? Gucci, Meow Wolf, Las Vegas.
The most popular Wrinkle the duck video? "I Took My Duck to Petsmart," with an astonishing 21 million views (possibly because Wrinkle gets to model pet costumes).
Reporting from Tennessee Connect reporter Liz Kellar contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Why a service duck was banned from all Buc-ee's locations for life
