McKinley

Bears, Wolves, and Birds

 

It is a wet and cold spring so far, but the animals don't seem to mind! The pond in the Bear Habitat has thawed so the bears can resume their swimming. We are preparing the Aviaries for the raptors to be exhibited for the summer. This week, as an added enrichment for the wolves, we switched the packs in each enclosure. This gives them a different habitat to explore. Each pack has new smells and features to engage them. Summit, of our Granite Pack, was quick to jump in the pond and take a swim, despite the snow falling outside.

 

April is going to be a busy month for the bears. Here at the GWDC, we conduct bear resistant container testing in collaboration with the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC). Products such as coolers, backpack containers and garbage cans are being developed in order to keep food and other items stored safely in bear country. With several products waiting to be tested, the bears will be busy challenging their wits and strength on these containers to see if they are indeed bear resistant. Products that pass can be an effective tool to reduce the amount of bears that learn to get food from people or forage in human areas and can help reduce the amount of bears being destroyed because of this.  It's another way the bears here at the Center help to keep wild bears in the wild, where they belong! 

Kobuk

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 follow our progress keep an eye on the animals, and please come visit us soon.

 

Despite the mild winter we've had here in West Yellowstone, this has been one of our busiest winters yet. Visitation has stayed steady all winter long and has even increased after the end of the official winter season for Yellowstone National Park. Families on spring break from all over the western half of the country have found the GWDC, participated in our programs, and enjoyed our animals. The Keeper Kids program has been especially popular with these visitors. We also had a great time in March with our last Kids'N'Snow weekend.

 

The education department is busy getting ready for summer with new programs. With last summer's opening of the "Easy Street/Living with Bears" exhibit and the outdoor amphitheater, we have an opportunity to use those educational spaces to the advantage of the visitor. We will move some of the programs that focus on preventing bear-human conflicts and living safely in bear country to that area and those exhibits will be available to help increase the effectiveness of these programs. The amphitheater will be the setting for our birds-of-prey, Karelian bear dog, and other educational programs as soon as the weather permits. The Yellowstone National Park Ranger talks that we host will also be in that space. Because we have that space available from the beginning of the summer season this year, our educational staff is brainstorming creative ways to use that space and provide additional educational and interpretive programs for our visitors.

 

Kids'N'Snow

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. If you're within driving distance of the Center, one of the 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 are currently adding materials to our Teaching Trunks, and adding programs to our roster. We will customize the program or the Teaching Trunk for your group and areas of special interest.  

 

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 Andrew Wells, Gretchen Heine, Tut Fuentevilla, and Kimberly Shields for this week's photos.

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