The London Zoo
That ended up being a lot longer than Colebourn expected — about four years, to be exact. In the meantime, Winnie became the London Zoo’s biggest attraction. She was so accustomed to humans that she allowed zoogoers to ride her back and feed her condensed milk, which obviously amounts to the best day of a child’s (and quite a few adults’) life. By the time Colebourn came back for her, he couldn’t justify taking her from the children of London, so he went back to Canada alone, knowing his heart would go on.
Related: The 5 Most Terrifying Zoo Exhibits Ever
Enter A. A. Milne
One of the kids who went particularly batshit for Winnie was Christopher Robin Milne, (obviously) the son of A.A. Milne. They always had a fairly strained relationship, neither really knowing what to do with the other unless they were making up stories in the woods — or taking a trip to the zoo. In truth, the older Milne was all but forgotten once they reached the bear habitat, when they would ask the keeper to open Winnie’s cage, “and with a happy cry of, ‘Oh, Bear!’ Christopher Robin rushe into its arms.” He very well may have liked the bear more than his dad, to the point of renaming his teddy bear, then sensibly named Edward, to Winnie.