Only two things stand in the way of the newest candidate seeking to become mayor of Kitchener: One, it’s not officially registered, and two, it’s a bear.

Bear4Mayor first appeared on the public’s radar last Friday, with a Twitter account announcing its candidacy.

“It’s time for change, elect a bear!” it tweeted.

Over the weekend, Bear4Mayor’s support grew even as it filled out its platform, revealing its dislike of the circus and promising, if elected, to not eat anybody in the city.

It also received messages of support, including from other registered candidates in the Oct. 27 election.

“Welcome to the race Bear bro! I love honey and salmon too!” tweeted Dan Glenn-Graham.

A second candidate for mayor, Peter Martin, said he hoped Bear4Mayor would get voters to “come out of hibernation” and pay attention to the campaign.

“As long as the bear doesn’t attack anybody personally, bears down on the issues at hand and brings those to light, I’m all in favour of it,” he said.

The third candidate officially in the race, Berry Vrbanovic, said he was glad to learn he had nothing to fear in terms of personal attacks from Bear4Mayor.

“I breathed a sigh of relief on Friday when I learned that the bear likes berries, as in the fruit, but doesn’t eat Berrys, as in the politicians,” Vrbanovic said.

Hoping the bear would be more afraid of her than she was of it, CTV’s Krista Simpson cornered it in Victoria Park on Monday.

Instead, she discovered, Bear4Mayor appeared to have learned campaign skills from human politicians, as it waved a Canadian flag and campaign sign while posing for photos.

Although the bear’s lack of English presented some challenges to conducting a formal interview, Bear4Mayor did give a thumbs-up to its campaign momentum thus far and expressed surprise at his newfound popularity.

The bear did appear more receptive to email queries, responding to questions from CTV News in detail.

Asked if there was a larger purpose to its foray out of the wilderness than entertainment, Bayor4Mear responded that it hoped by bring more dialogue and focus to the campaign.

“I hope that in my little way I can bring more attention to the fact that we have a municipal election happening,” it said.

Bear4Mayor has not signed any papers to officially join the race – although it’s not clear if that’s due to its lack of legal standing to run for human office, its waiting for a more politically opportune moment or its shortage of opposable thumbs.