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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, and we hope to see you in person soon.
As usual, there's a lot going on in this issue. Enjoy the photos and the news. Get to know our amazing cast of characters, and share us with your friends. Please come visit us, right here in West Yellowstone, relax and watch the animals, or participate in one of our interactive programs and displays. Until then we wish you all the best. We hope we can bring a little discovery and excitement your way. See you soon!
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 | | Josh |
Around The Center
What's Happening at the GWDC
Have you noticed that here in West Yellowstone we talk a lot about waiting for summer to arrive, and as soon as it does we immediately turn the conversation to school starting, fall lurking just around the corner, and getting ready for winter? Ever wonder why we can't just sit still for a minute and enjoy the hot weather and sunshine while we have it? We wonder that sometimes. The sprinklers are going, the animals have finally shed their winter coats, the days are long, and the summer vacationers seem to be enjoying all that July in Montana has to offer.
And school starts in four weeks. We've already said goodbye to two summer employees who are heading back to college. It goes so fast.
Construction on the bear diet kitchen, the fencing, and the amphitheater has also been going fast. We are hoping to begin work on a new bear den and High Country wolf habitat improvements before the days get too much shorter. Read more about these two important projects below. We hope you're enjoying your summer, and hope you'll come visit us soon.
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! We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Thanks again for tuning in.
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 | | Coram |
Bears, Wolves, and Birds
(Oh My!)
Animal Updates
Toys for Tuesday has been entertaining for the bears and visitors alike. We've also had some unique container testing going on. Wolf enrichment has been interesting also. If you're anywhere near the Center at 3:00 or 7:15 p.m. these days, come on by and hear the naturalists interpret the wolves' behavior as they encounter all sorts of scents and food items in their habitats. We don't want to jump the gun or jinx anything, but keep an eye out right here for exciting news about birds-of-prey (old and new) here at the GWDC.
Stay tuned here and we'll keep you posted on the reason we're all here - the animals! Remember to check out our webcams when you're wondering what's going on around at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center or wanting to stay connected until your next visit. Every issue of our email newsletter will have updates on our animals, and we will still be sending quarterly newsletters through the mail. Read more about these Howls & Growls newsletters below, and please come visit us soon.
Check out our bears...
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 | | Education Staff and Interns with West Yellowstone Summer Recreation Students |
Education
Knowledge Is a Powerful Tool
There are plenty of reasons to wish you were a kid again, but how about this for a great one? Every Tuesday this summer West Yellowstone Summer Rec students have been coming to the GWDC for exciting, educational, and fun days with the naturalists. Together they have been playing educational games, developing the Bear-Safe Community checklist and curriculum, and involving parents and residents in the community in cleaning up potential bear attractants. Outreach, a full schedule of onsite programs, and Keeper Kids are all in full swing. Keeper Kids is an exciting activity specially designed for kids ages 5-12. In this unique hands-on 30-minute program, kids learn first about grizzly bear eating habits then accompany a naturalist and animal keeper into the bear habitat to hide food for some of the resident bears. After the food is hidden, participants and visitors can see how bears use their sense of smell to search out the food. This opportunity is almost always full at this time of year, so if you're planning to participate during your visit, please register early!
As promised, we want to tell you all about our new audio tour! Hosted by OnCell, this mobile tour is meant to be an addition to our onsite interpretation. Visitors can access spoken information about the Center, the exhibits, and the animals via any cell phone! With the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center's new cell phone tour, visitors will be able to choose and hear a wealth of information about our bears and wolves and their wild cousins. The cell phone tour is self-guided and self-paced. We hope visitors enjoy this additional opportunity to learn about our amazing animals.
If you're interested in visiting the GWDC with your family or with your students, 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
If you haven't seen it yet, go check your mailbox. We just mailed out our Summer Appeal, with the patient and dedicated help of Jayne S, volunteer extraordinaire. We hope you enjoy, or at least don't mind, seeing what we're up to this time of year, and reading about what we hope to provide for the animals we all care so much about. This summer there is a vital need to create additional shelter for the young grizzlies Grant and Roosevelt and for the High Country omega wolf Leopold. We hope you will help us raise money to build an additional bear den and a mound in the wolf habitat. These additions are time-sensitive and specific, and we definitely need your support. We've been so blown away already by the response to our Facebook posts about these projects. Thank you so much for caring and sharing this work with us.
Indoor enclosures provide bears with privacy, security, and quiet. Grant and Roosevelt have been sharing a den since they came to the Center as much smaller eight-month-old cubs. As they grow and develop, competing for food or experiencing conflict in a single den will eventually lead to stress. With nine bears and only eight dens we knew this day would come, but like anyone watching their young grow, we hoped it wouldn't come so soon. It's time to give Grant and Roosevelt their own safe places so they will continue to thrive.
In the High Country wolf pack, Leopold is the omega or lowest-ranking wolf. Sweet and playful, he constantly invites the other wolves in his pack to interact. Because of his status, many of his approaches are met with aggressive behavior that keeps him in his place socially and physically. We want to help shield Leopold from being overly stressed by these instinctive pack dynamics. By constructing a mound in the High Country exhibit with a built-in den underneath, we can enhance the outdoor habitat for all the wolves and provide Leopold with a refuge below the mound. Your support will protect Leopold and the High Country Pack from potential altercations while allowing the pack new places to climb, hunt, and hide.
We hope you can help us with these immediate needs this summer. Whether you respond to the written appeal in the mail, or use the website to "Donate Now", your support makes a world of difference to the animals here at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center. We hope to hear from you and see 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.
Our thanks to Steve Henry, Gretchen Heine, and Kimberly Shields for this week's beautiful photographs. (The slightly blurry, over-exposed pictures were taken by our non-photographer Jen H.)
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We hope you enjoy this issue, learn a little something, and feel like you are here with us for just a few minutes. It's a pretty special place to be. Have a great couple of weeks and a fantastic summer, and we'll look forward to seeing you soon.
Thanks again for keeping up with us and for all you do.
Sincerely,
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 | | Don't forget our plans for a Riparian Habitat! Keep an eye out for more news here! |
The GWDC Staff
Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center |
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