05/23/2026
As folks are celebrating the start of summer this weekend, it’s important to remember that we’re not the only ones looking for a quick meal!
Over Memorial Day weekend, we’ll be demonstrating the dos and don’ts of camping or picnicking out in bear country to highlight bear safety—with the help of the bears of course! On Sunday, May 24th, there will be a mock campsite set up on habitat so we can observe what might attract a bear to our camps. All of the bears at GWDC were removed from the wild due to learning to get food from human areas, so there are many things they can teach us to help prevent bears in the wild from becoming food conditioned as well.
On Memorial Day, May 25th, there will be container testing throughout the day as a part of our container testing program. This is a good opportunity to see how bears might go about getting into the coolers we use and what it means to be a bear-resistant container, so be sure to ask a Naturalist in red when the next container testing shift will be if you’re visiting with us that day!
We’ll be doing mock campsites and container testing throughout the summer, so don’t feel like you’re missing out if you won’t be here this weekend! For more information on staying bear safe, check out Yellowstone National Park’s backcountry guide: https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/backcountrysafety.htm or talk to staff and attend programs here at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center!
(Pictured: Grizzly bear Bo helps himself to a picnic set up on habitat; Grizzly bear Coram finds a fish head in a cooler after tearing it open)
