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We have two exciting bits of animal news here at the Center since we talked last! If you come to the Center this summer, you will likely see new faces in the aviary. In the largest exhibit you will see the two bald eagles, Josh and Zack. They seem happy in their new, larger enclosure and can often be seen bathing in their pool! New to the aviary are Targhee and Jago, a great-horned owl and peregrine falcon. Targhee has been demonstrating his excellent camouflage by spending his time high up in the lodgepole pines in his habitat. As Jago moves from perch to perch, you will see his aerodynamic physique in action and imagine just how fast peregrine falcons can fly (over 200 mph!) in the wild.

We have also begun switching our wolf packs between the three habitats we have at the Center. This gives each wolf pack an opportunity to periodically explore a new territory, keeping both their brains and bodies active and alert. Recently, Summit and Granite moved to an enclosure with a big fish pond. It was Summit's first time in this enclosure and he has been a joy to watch as he bellyflops off the waterfall and into the water! We've never seen one of our wolves do this before, which just goes to show that every day is a new day here at the Center!

Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted on the reason we're all here - the animals! Every issue of our email newsletter will have updates on the animals, and we will still be sending quarterly newsletters through the mail. We hope you'll stay tuned and please come visit us soon.

Our Education Department is busy this summer with new programs and exhibits!

The Keeper Kids program, where kids ages 5-12 can hide food for the bears in the bear habitat, has long been one of our most popular programs. But what do you do if you are 13-17 years old and still want hands-on experience with animal care? Join the brand new Keeper Crew program! Keeper Crew is a program that runs on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings. The program gives participants a behind-the-scenes look at how our animal keepers prepare food and make enrichment for our animals. Then the Keeper Crew gets to create some enrichment of their own! This program has so far been successful and well received by the teenagers who have participated.

Our "Living with Bears on Easy Street" exhibit is opening soon! If you have the opportunity and are nearby, come on over to see it. If not, come back and visit us later this summer and check out the pictures on Facebook. The goal of this new exhibit is to help visitors who live in bear country learn how to keep their homes, gardens, beehives, chicken coops, and other attractants safe and out of reach for hungry black and grizzly bears. If you take a walk down "Easy Street" here at the Center, you will learn just how many hidden and unexpected attractants are in a typical residential neighborhood. It may surprise you! Later in the summer, there will be demonstrations on how to protect chicken coops and gardens with electric wire, the best way to keep bears out!

 

 

Developments

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. Thanks to Kathy Price, Tut Fuentevilla, and Gretchen Heine for this week's photos.

If you've ever wanted to know how to take make those once of a lifetime pictures even better, consider this: The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center is offering a Beginner/Intermediate Photography class on both Saturday August 16th & Saturday September 13th. They will be taught by Christopher Balmer, whose work is featured above. He is a Master Photographer, Instructor, and member of the Professional Photographers of America. Each class will be from 9:30am to 3:30pm at the Center, and the registration fee is only $75.00. If you are interested in registering, please e-mail us at info@grizzlydiscoveryctr.com or call the Center at 406-646-7003.

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The GWDC Staff