Grizzly Center & Old Faithful
West Yellowstone, Montana: We needed the radiant floor heaters
this morning - the temperatures dropped into the high 30's overnight. Take
the Weather with You. DT went for a long run, but I took the day off. I
don't know if it is all the jogging I have been doing at these high altitudes, or
possibly just the high altitudes... but I am feeling a little punky and
decided to have a rest day. I'm basically lazy.
This morning we re-visited the Grizzly & Wolf
Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Montana - just a few feet from our
campsite. We brought The Lovely Lisa here when she was a little girl and though
we can't exactly remember many details, feel the facility has greatly improved.
Part zoo, part teaching facility, the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center provides
an intimate look into the lives of the grizzly bear and wolf. Nearly every
bear in the center is an orphaned cub. Most of the wolves were born in captivity.
The last native Yellowstone wolf was shot in the
park in 1927. In 1995, 31 wolfs from Canada were
reintroduced to Yellowstone and their numbers now
are approximately 150. Ninety percent of the diet of
a Yellowstone wolf is elk. They also eat rabbits and
other small rodents.
The center has eight wolves (canis lupus)
on-site, in two packs.
Grizzly Bear
There are seven grizzly bear in the facility.
Trainers hide food for the bears to find and provide
live trout in the ponds for the animals to hunt. It
is very interesting to watch the bears as they work
for their supper.
We attended a lecture at the center about how scientists and naturalists are
"re-training" nuisance bears. A bear becomes a nuisance when s/he keeps
returning to naughty humans living in bear territory who do not take
care of their garbage, dog food and bird feeders, etc. A bear learns if he
comes into these homes or neighborhoods, he will be rewarded with food.
Usually these bears are trapped and relocated. Often-times - even if
they are moved over 50 miles away - they will return to an easy food
source. Nuisance bears get three strikes and then they are euthanized.
Now animal management teams are using
Karelian Bear Dogs to scare nuisance bears away from their usual
raiding-grounds. The marauding bear is trapped, tagged
with a radio transmitter and
re-released. The tagged bear is constantly tracked via radio frequency
and when he returns to the neighborhood, the dogs (with their handlers)
are waiting to chase him away. This scare-tactic is
really working and less and less bear are having to
be killed. Karelian Bear Dogs are from the
Finnish-Russian border and were raised to hunt bear.
This is fascinating stuff.
Grizzly bear hide
Beautiful animals. In all our travels throughout the
west, DT and I have only seen one Grizzly in the
wild - in Banff, Canada, on a hike. That was enough.
It is sad these creatures have to be in a zoo, but
bears and humans do not mix. Be careful out there,
people, and make sure your property is bear-safe.
I made a little video for your viewing pleasure:
In the afternoon, we left sunny, warm West Yellowstone,
Montana and arrived 30 miles later to Old Faithful where the temperature
was 49 degrees and it was pouring, dumping rain in the middle of a
thunder and lightning storm!
Thirty miles!
The sky cleared just a bit as the
famous geyser blew. All the tourists ran out to see
the fabulous explosion. DT took photos and I
video-taped the eruption, and added video of White
Dome Geyser as well. Enjoy.
Strange that one can go from tee-shirts to fleece
jackets and rain gear in 30 miles - but that is
common in Yellowstone National Park. In the park
today we saw several bison, many elk, an osprey and
one little coyote.
Tomorrow, we plan to drive the
northern park in the Honda - cameras in tow.
Good News: one of the perps has been arrested! The
other dude is still running wild with his
fiance/cousin. They are suspected to be in central
Wyoming, armed and dangerous. They think they are
Bonnie & Clyde. If Bonnie & Clyde were cousins, of
course.
Until my next update, I remain, your grizzly
correspondent.
RV Park:
Grizzly RV Park. We feel this is the best
big-rig park for a visit to Yellowstone. Just
outside the west gate, the park has 50-amp
pull-through and back-in sites. Wifi, laundry,
bathhouse, playground, dog walk area, store -
everything you will need, plus all the amenities of
West Yellowstone, Montana - post office, shops,
groceries, restaurants, tour companies, museums,
etc. We are paying $48 per night.