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November 7, 2012
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DISCOVERY
News from The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center
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Hello and welcome!
Thanks for dropping in to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, a not-for-profit, AZA-accredited wildlife park and educational facility, with a diverse crew of staff and volunteers. We're glad you're here with us.
There's a lot going on in this issue. We hope you enjoy the photos and the news. Get to know our amazing cast of characters, and share us with your friends. We hope to see you soon, right here in West Yellowstone, relaxing and watching the animals, or participating in one of our interactive programs and displays, but until then we wish you all the best.
We hope we can bring a little discovery and excitement your way. Enjoy!
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Around The Center
What's Happening at the GWDC
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Photo by Karsten Schmidt
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First, our thoughts and warm wishes are with all of you who were touched by Superstorm Sandy. Not really very super, if you ask us. We hope you and your loved ones survived the storm and the aftermath, and that life is getting back to normal. Since our last email newsletter two weeks ago, we have seen the end of Daylight Saving Time and Election 2012, and we hope these milestones treated you better than Sandy. If it seems like you just received a newsletter from us, if the time seems to be flying by and your Inbox just seems more and more crowded, especially with holidays creeping up, we have good news. We have added a monthly option to our email newsletter for those of you who want to receive every other issue. Simply reply to this email and request that your email address be moved from the bi-weekly to the monthly list. And of course, you can always remove your name from the list altogether. We never want to be a nuisance. We want to take this opportunity to welcome two new members to our Board of Directors! Thank you and hello to Mary Oliver and Kirk Horn! We are thrilled to have you in our midst, and so thankful for the wisdom, expertise, and commitment you bring. Thank you for joining hands with us to make the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center a better place. Remember if you have any questions, or just want to know more about any aspect of the Center, you can always give us a call at 406.646.7001, reply to this newsletter, or email info@grizzlydiscoveryctr.com. We will try to keep you informed and up to date in as many ways as we can. Your involvement and interest in what we do keeps us doing it! Thanks again for tuning in.
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Bears, Wolves, and Birds
(Oh My!)
Animal Updates
 We have great news about the animals this issue. Well, don't we always?
We told you last time about our two newest additions to the raptors we care for. They are adjusting well to a new home, and we are proud to announce their new names. The two new bald eagles are officially going to be called Josh and Zack. In honor of Veteran's Day, the eagles have been named after war veterans that are close to the Center. Josh is an Army veteran that served in Iraq. Zack is a Marine that just returned home from the war in Afghanistan. We would like to thank all of our brave troops for their service and sacrifices for our country, and we would like to invite you to meet our two new eagles. They will be on exhibit next year.
Our other exciting news is the completely uneventful introduction of the youngest and the oldest bears here at the GWDC. Grant, Roosevelt, and Sow 101 successfully spent time together in the outside habitat last Wednesday, with quite an audience of GWDC animal keepers, staff, and our Center veterinarian. With minimal interactions, all three bears have taken to sharing the habitat and the time outside in a peaceful and very natural manner.
And a word on the wolves: all is well. They have been responding well to recent enrichment opportunities, including some new scents and food items. They certainly received a good bit of attention from our photography contestants. You will be seeing some beautiful photos from both packs in the coming weeks and months.
Every issue of our email newsletter will have updates on our animals, and we will still be sending quarterly newsletters through the mail. We know it's not the people who draw you to the GWDC, as neat as we are, so we'll keep you posted on the reason we're all here: the bears, wolves, and birds.
Read about our wolves...
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Education
Knowledge Is a Powerful Tool
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Our Education team is happy to announce the addition of Sarah Encapara to the pack! Sarah's first day on the habitats and in the office was yesterday. There's never a dull moment for our Naturalists, and we're sure Sarah will spice things up even more. Welcome Sarah. We will be represented by AJ at the National Association of Interpretation's national workshop next week in Virginia. The NAI is a professional organization dedicated to advancing the profession of natural interpretation, currently serving about 5,000 members in the United States, Canada, and over thirty other nations. Workshop sessions range from species introduction to conflict resolution, and just about any other topic you could imagine would be relevant for educators and public speakers. It will be fun to see all the new ideas AJ comes back with! If you're interested in visiting the GWDC with your classroom, or if you'd like to sponsor a Teaching Trunk or outreach program, let us know. One of the Center's naturalists can visit your school for special assemblies, programs or activities. As you know, some of our birds-of-prey can travel for such programs as can our large collection of wolf and bear artifacts. We will customize the program or the Teaching Trunk for your group and areas of special interest.
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Developments
New and Exciting Opportunities to Support the GWDC
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Photo by Jeff Weymier
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Congratulations to the participants and winners of the GWDC Autumn Discovery Photography Contest! The deadline was November 2nd, and we had over 100 entries! Thank you all so much for your interest and participation. We had an illustrious panel of judges, made up of two painters, two photographers, and a filmmaker, who whittled the categories down to a winner and a runner-up each. The photo you see here by Jeff Weymier won the Amateur Bear category. We will be posting the winning photos on Facebook over the next several days, and then we will start sharing the runners-up with you, in a contest for Honorable Mention! We are too excited about the hard work and gorgeous photos to let this contest go just yet, so keep your eyes on Facebook, this email newsletter, and upcoming Howls & Growls for more.
Congratulations are also due to our latest raffle winners, who were chosen by Ken Takata last Thursday morning. John from Great Falls, Montana won the framed photo generously donated by Ken Takata, and Gordon from Nevada won Kathy Sheeter's framed scratchboard. Together these two raffles raised over $2600 for the Center, a new record! We will soon be advertising a new raffle for a framed and numbered print of a mountain lion family, and we have begun a Christmas stocking raffle which will be featured in our December Howls & Growls Newsletter. Give us a call to join the mailing list.
Speaking of mailing lists, the Fall Appeal should be in your mailbox within the next week. What with the nasty weather of late, upcoming holiday events, and all that you have going on, we simply want to share our goals and projects for 2013, and how much we accomplished in 2012 with your help. Think of it as an early Season's Greeting and a thank you note for helping us through another year, all rolled into one. We hope you like it.
And with holidays fast approaching, we have a Thanksgiving holiday special to offer you! You've heard of Black Friday, and perhaps Small Business Saturday is catching on in your town. We're starting to read about Sofa Sunday as well. Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday (a new kid on the block) will find us offering all Animal Adoptions for 10% off! You can call or adopt via the website on those two days, and receive the same benefits at the same levels for less money! We'll have more about this offer in the next email newsletter, but we wanted you to be able to factor it in now to your holiday gift buying plans!
Thanks again for all you do. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Keep reading about other ways to support the GWDC...
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Eye Candy
Photographs and Artwork from the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center
We are honored to have many artists and photographers visit and support the GWDC. Their vision and talents inspire and enliven our work here, so we thought it would be nice to feature some of their work in every issue of our newsletter. If you'd like to see your artwork here, send us an image! Paintings, sculptures, and mixed media are welcome too. One "should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful implanted in the human soul." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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We hope you enjoyed this issue, learned a little something, and felt like you were here with us for just a few minutes. It's a pretty special place to be. We hope you have a great couple of weeks, and make plans to come see us soon. Thank you!
Sincerely,
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 | | Photo by Jennifer Lemmond |
The GWDC Staff
Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center |
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Gift Shop
Happenings
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The website will soon be filled with new gift selections. Keep checking!
Look for our $5.00 Holiday Gift Stocking Raffle next month in the December Howls & Growls Newsletter. Last year it was a big hit, and like all gift shop sales, the proceeds go directly to the Center. You will also be able to purchase gift stocking raffle tickets here in the Gift Shop.
Thank you for supporting and shopping at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center!
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Remember all Animal Adoptions are 10% off on
Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday, November 26 & 27, 2012!
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