Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

Name

Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

Legal name

Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

Website

https://grizzlydiscoveryctr.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Wildlife Park and Educational Facility

NAICS

Nature Parks and Other Similar Institutions (712190), Zoos and Botanical Gardens (71213), Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Wildlife Interpretation & Education Centers (Visitor Centers, Museums) (THAAAFAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Wildlife Conservation & Species Protection (BPAGAGAB), Conservation, Research & Volunteer Experiences (THAJAIAJ)

Keywords

• Wildlife park tours
• Wildlife education programs
• Animal adoption services
• Conservation tourism
• Bear-resistant product testing

Headquarters

HQ city

West Yellowstone

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Visitor Admissions: Entry fees charged to individual visitors, families, and groups visiting the wildlife park. Tickets are valid for 2 consecutive days.
2. Gift Shop Sales: Sale of merchandise, souvenirs, and fundraising items including enrichment keychains, fur glass ball ornaments, and raffle tickets
3. Donations: Tax-deductible donations supporting animal care, habitat enrichment, and facility expansion. One-time, monthly, or yearly giving options available.
4. Animal Adoptions: Virtual and physical adoption packages for individual animals or packs. Options range from $45 virtual adoption to $500 Grand Teton package with plush toys and admission passes.
5. Business Memberships: Annual corporate memberships with levels from $250 Sponsor to $10,000 Director's Guild, providing unlimited admission, event tickets, and recognition benefits
6. Behind-the-Scenes Tours: Premium guided tours offering exclusive access to bear den building and otter holding areas for $125 per person
7. Specific Needs Donations: Targeted donations for specific animal care categories including Bear Care, Wolf Care, Otter Care, General Care, and Bird of Prey Care at $10+
8. School Group Programs: Educational field trip programs with structured rates for K-8 ($11.50) and 9-college ($13.50) student groups
9. Keeper Kids Program: Interactive children's program where kids ages 5-12 learn about bears and help keepers hide food for $5 per child
10. Specialty License Plates: Montana specialty license plates with $25 first-time cost and $30 annual renewal, with proceeds going to GWDC

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center operates an AZA-accredited not-for-profit wildlife park and educational facility in West Yellowstone, Montana, providing the public with up-close observation and educational interpretation of grizzly bears, gray wolves, river otters, and birds of prey. Its core paid offerings include general park admission (valid for 2 consecutive days), behind-the-scenes guided tours, structured school-group programs, and IGBC-certified bear-resistant product testing. It monetizes its mission through admissions, gift shop sales, animal adoptions, business memberships, donations, and fundraising items.

Product overview

The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center (GWDC) is a single-site, AZA-accredited not-for-profit wildlife park and educational facility offering general admission as its core product. The center provides a portfolio of add-on experiences including Behind-the-Scenes Tours for intimate animal encounters, Animal Adoptions at various price tiers, Business Memberships for corporate partners, and Fundraising Raffle Tickets. Supporting offerings include live webcams (Bear Cam, Wolf Cam, Otter Cam), Animal Care Donations for specific species, Teacher Resources and Trunks for educational outreach, Gift Shop merchandise, GWDC Specialty License Plates, and daily Educational Programs like Keeper Kids and Wolf Pack Chat. The center operates as a 501(c)(3) dependent on admissions, donations, memberships, and fundraising for support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• General Admission to the Wildlife Park Day-pass entry to the AZA-accredited wildlife park and educational facility in West Yellowstone, Montana; tickets are valid for 2 consecutive days and the facility is open 365 days a year from 8:30 am to 7:00 pm.
• Behind-the-Scenes Tours Premium guided tours ($125 per person, limit 4 people per tour, ages 10+) offering exclusive access to the bear den building and otter holding areas; tour duration is 1.5 hours and includes GWDC admission.
• Animal Adoptions Virtual and physical adoption packages for individual animals and packs of bears, wolves, otters, raptors, and ground squirrels; each package includes a certificate, photo, plush or merchandise items, and 6-month updates.
• Business Memberships Annual corporate membership program with six tiers ($250 to $10,000) granting unlimited admission for two adults, allotment of guest admission and event tickets, website recognition, and a 15% employee-membership discount at the highest tier.
• Live Webcams (Bear Cam, Wolf Cam, Otter Cam) Free, publicly accessible live webcam streaming of bears, wolves, and river otters at the facility, hosted via the IPCamlive platform for remote digital engagement.
• Keeper Kids Educational Program Interactive children's program for ages 5-12 where participants learn about bears and help keepers hide food as part of enrichment activities; priced at $5 per child and includes a scavenger hunt and animal photo pin.
• IGBC Bear-Resistant Product Testing Service IGBC-certified third-party testing service for bear-resistant food and garbage storage containers, conducted via live-bear 60-minute access testing; only two facilities are approved (GWDC and WSU Bear Center).
• School Group Field Trip Programs Organized educational field trips for K-12 and college groups with tiered per-student pricing ($11.50 K-8; $13.50 grade 9-college) and curriculum-aligned programming including Keeper Kids.
• Fundraising Items / Raffle Tickets Seasonal fundraising merchandise including enrichment keychains ($12), fur glass ball ornaments ($20), and raffle tickets ($10 each) for prizes such as wildlife photographs, quilt blankets, and other donated items.
• GWDC Specialty License Plate Montana specialty license plate branded to GWDC; first-time cost $25 plus $20 admin fee, with proceeds going directly to GWDC and a $30 annual renewal fully directed to the center.
• Yellowstone Ecosystem Wildlife and Nature Exhibits Interactive educational exhibit space demonstrating the integral relationships of bears and wolves within the Yellowstone ecosystem and the challenges of coexisting with wildlife; opened in 2025 to replace the retired 'BEARS: Imagination & Reality' exhibit.

Quantifiable outcome

• 25 consecutive years of AZA accreditation as a not-for-profit wildlife facility
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and moderate.

• Advanced Conservation through Empathy (ACE)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021GWDC is a member of this AZA regional group focused on sharing and developing best practices in wildlife and conservation education using science-supported communication practices.
• Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGWDC is the only facility approved for testing bear-resistant food and garbage storage containers for the IGBC program. Bears at the Center test containers for 60 minutes to certify them as bear-resistant. This prevents human-bear conflicts by certifying products that keep food inaccessible to bears. GWDC and Washington State University Bear Center are the only two approved testing facilities.
• Washington State University Bear Research, Education and Conservation CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWSU Bear Center and GWDC are the only two facilities approved for IGBC bear-resistant products testing program. Both facilities use live bears to test whether containers can resist access for 60 minutes.
• Yellowstone National Park / Wildlife Restoration FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership through the Zoo Park Partnership (ZPP) program. GWDC participates in the 'I Am Bear Safe' Project with Yellowstone National Park and Custer Gallatin National Forest, training tourists and recreationists to prevent wildlife displacement and habituation to humans.
• Montana State UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on the Golden Eagle Lure bird project, a long-standing initiative assessing bald and golden eagle lead poisoning and habitat encroachment. A GWDC eagle is transported to study sites and serves as a lure for capturing wild eagles for critical research.
• Wind River Bear InstitutemoderateStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership since 2003 using Karelian Bear Dogs for 'Bear Shepherding' - a conditioning process that teaches humans to prevent conflicts and teaches problem bears boundary awareness and avoidance of human-occupied space. GWDC adopted first Karelian Bear Dog 'Jewel' as education staff member.
• Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and ParksmoderateStrategic or Co-development PartnerCooperative partner in developing the bear-resistant container testing protocol and in the placement of non-releasable grizzly bears.
• U.S. Forest ServicemoderateStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in bear-resistant container testing protocol and placement of non-releasable wildlife.
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServicemoderateStrategic or Co-development PartnerGWDC has received approval from USFWS to save grizzly bears from the lower 48 states due to its non-profit status, enabling placement of bears removed from the wild.
• Tesla / Electric Vehicle Charging StationsminorOthersGWDC hosts Electric Vehicle charging stations - the first partnership of its kind in the West Yellowstone area, supporting sustainable tourism practices.
• Otto EnvironmentalminorOthersOtto Environmental provides unique animal enrichment items through a gift registry, helping improve quality of life for GWDC animals.
• Rodent ProminorOthersRodent Pro offers premium frozen animal foods and live foods for GWDC raptors and animal enrichment through a dedicated charity donation page.
• US Geological Survey (USGS)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGWDC assisted USGS in understanding mange (a parasitic disease) and other wildlife research studies. GWDC bears used to evaluate effectiveness of different lures for DNA analysis and population estimation studies.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves13 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• ZooMontana: An AZA-accredited zoo in Billings, Montana, focused on native Montana and northern Rockies wildlife. Comparable as a regional wildlife education institution in GWDC's home state with similar species focus.

Direct peers

• International Wolf Center: Minnesota-based educational facility dedicated to wolves, offering public viewing, education programs, and conservation advocacy. Closely comparable to GWDC's wolf-focused programming and mission of wolf conservation and public education.
• Northwest Trek Wildlife Park: An AZA-accredited wildlife park and zoo in Eatonville, Washington featuring Pacific Northwest native animals with tram and walking tours. Comparable mid-size wildlife park with strong educational programming and conservation mission.
• Bearizona Wildlife Park: A drive-through wildlife park in Williams, Arizona, featuring North American wildlife including black bears, wolves, and bison. Comparable as a for-profit wildlife park experience combining up-close animal viewing with educational interpretation.
• Washington State University Bear Research, Education and Conservation Center: WSU's bear research center is GWDC's only peer in the IGBC-approved bear-resistant product testing program. Directly comparable in the niche certification service line, with academic/research focus versus GWDC's visitor-facing approach.
• Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary: A wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in Red Lodge, Montana, providing sanctuary for non-releasable native wildlife. Comparable mission to GWDC in housing animals unable to survive in the wild, with public educational visitation.

Emerging players

• Mission: Wolf: A wolf sanctuary and educational center in Westcliffe, Colorado, housing captive-born and non-releasable wolves. Comparable niche focus on wolf education and sanctuary, though smaller scale and less visitor-oriented than GWDC.

Broad incumbents

• Cheyenne Mountain Zoo: An AZA-accredited zoo in Colorado Springs focused on North American and mountain species with similar grizzly bear and wolf exhibits. Comparable accreditation standards and conservation mission, though operating at substantially larger scale.
• San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance: One of the world's largest AZA-accredited zoological organizations with global conservation programs. Comparable as an AZA-accredited conservation and education institution, though operating at vastly greater scale, breadth of species, and budget.

Others

• Yellowstone Forever (Park Store & Education): The official nonprofit partner of Yellowstone National Park supporting education, conservation, and visitor services. Comparable as a Yellowstone-anchored conservation nonprofit that overlaps with GWDC's donor base and educational visitor market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Grizzly-Wolf-Discovery-Center-113169862034661
• Instagraminstagram.com/grizzlywolfctr
• Xx.com/GrizzlyWolfCntr

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center