A controversial kissing booth is back in business, after the owners of an Alberta zoo decided offering guests a chance to pose for pictures -- smooching a bear -- wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Animal rights activists had lobbied to shut the attraction down, insisting that a bear kissing booth sends the wrong message about the dangers bears pose to people.

To those who run the Discovery Wildlife Park in Innisfail, Alberta though, they're doing it for the love of the animals.

For nearly 40 years, Ruth LaBarge has been training Kodiak and Black bears to appear on the silver screen. In all that time she's grown to love the animals, and isn't afraid to show it.

So, LaBarge is offering visitors to the modest Alberta zoo a chance to watch the trained bears share a smooch. And, for a small price, guests can get a kiss of their own from a brown bear named Ali Oop.

After a summer during which three people were killed and several others injured in bear attacks across the country, critics say the idea is not just silly -- it's stupid and dangerous.

A campaign led by the Toronto-based animal rights group Zoocheck Canada prompted the park to put a stop to the ursine embraces.

But an influx of supportive letters from the public convinced the zookeepers to let the bears pucker up again.

"They just need to lash out, they're an animal activist group that doesn't really look after animals, they just need some publicity," the zoo's co-owner Doug Bos told CTV News.

And besides, the zoo insists the kissing booth is just a small part of a larger twice-daily presentation about wild bear safety.

"I'm not sure if it's okay," Ryan Kelley said when asked whether he'd let his children smack lips with a bear. "But I've read enough about it, and we've seen ads for it on the TV. If my kids want to kiss the bear, I'll let them kiss the bear."