Grizzly bear 'troublemakers' get second chance at sanctuary
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Visitors to Yellowstone National Park are guaranteed to see a grizzly bear at the Grizzly Discovery Center, just outside the park in Cody, Wyoming
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CNN's Jennie Garlington visits the Grizzly Discovery Center just outside of Yellowstone National Park
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September 18, 1999
Web posted at: 12:27 p.m. EDT (1627 GMT)
CODY, Wyoming (CNN) -- Just outside the gates of Yellowstone National Park is a place where nuisance grizzly bears are given a second chance at life.
These are bears that repeatedly moved into populated areas in search of food, or the orphans of these so-called troublemakers.
Yellowstone is one of the last remaining North American strongholds of the grizzly bear, which once roamed as far south as Mexico. The bears have been protected inside the park for more than 100 years.
But some of the bears from the park had been wandering into populated areas in search of food. They adapted so well to human food sources that they began to beg at the roadsides where tourists rushed to feed them. As a result, visitors were sometimes injured and, subsequently, the wayward bears had to be killed.
The Grizzly Discovery Center opened in 1993 in an effort to reverse the bears' tendency to seek out human-originated food -- scraps and garbage left behind by campers -- instead of going after their own food sources like elk, trout or the carcasses of dead animals.
The center gives visitors the opportunity to view the bears
under carefully controlled and monitored conditions.
More than 175,000 visitors come to the sanctuary each year.
The center currently houses eight bears, along with a gray
wolf pack. The largest bear was born in captivity in February
1990. The oldest, born in 1989, was brought down from Denali
National Park in Alaska.
The facility hopes to add two more habitats, which would allow
room for 16 more bears.
Yellowstone is home to at least 200 grizzly bears, including
144 cubs born in the last three years, according to park
reports.
Correspondent Jennie Garlington contributed to this report.
RELATED STORIES:
Plan jeopardizes grizzlies, groups say August 18, 1999
Development threatens Yellowstone grizzlies, group says May 28, 1999
Scientists to analyze species recovery plans May 12, 1999
Grizzly population denied more protection April 27, 1999
Hungry bears prefer meals in imported cars January 19, 1999
Is the Endangered Species Act effective? December 22, 1998
RELATED SITES:
Endangered Species
DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE
Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee
Endangered Species in the National Parks
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