The Grizzly 399 Project May 2024 Newsletter

Help Save Our Wildlife Friends!

A group of bears in the snow

Photo by Tim Tennyson 2020

June 1 Grizzly 399 and Cubs Sculpture Dedication!!!

On April 21, Mother Grizzly 399 and her fat cub Spirit emerged from her den in Grand Teton National Park. We suppose she heard about the celebration and dedication of her beautiful bronze sculpture and her four baby cubs of 2020 set for Saturday, June 1, right down highway U.S. 26 in front of the National Museum of Military Vehicles (nmmv.org) in Dubois, Wyoming. The public is welcome, and the dedication ceremony begins at 11 AM in the Pascal Poolaw Administration Building, immediately east of the Museum. Featured speakers of the one hour presentation will include Dan Starks, Louisa Willcox, Sandy Scott, and the co-founders of the Deidre Bainbridge Wildlife Fund (grizzly399.org).

The sculpture was made possible by your donations and the great cooperation and sponsorship of the Museum. Famed wildlife sculptor Sandy Scott (sandyscottblog.blogspot.com/) created the beautiful 8 foot tall sculpture and had it cast at the Eagle Bronze foundry in Lander, Wyoming.

After the ceremony, you are welcome to enjoy lunch at the Museum’s Canteen and take a tour of the Museum. Guided tours are available. Reservations are advised.

The sculpture is now installed at the Museum with appropriate landscaping and signage. It is a “can’t miss” stop on your travels to the parks or day trips from surrounding towns. It is a wonderful opportunity to spend the day enjoying mountain, river and desert scenery, the authentic western town of Dubois, and the $100 million Museum honoring our veterans of three wars.

A statue of a bear with its cubsDescription automatically generated

Photo by Ray Thomas 2023

Plans for the Summer of 2024

The co-founders of the Deidre Bainbridge Wildlife Fund plan to focus this summer on wider distribution of the Greater Yellowstone Wildlife Safety Guide to visitors to and residents of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Last year, we e-blasted the free pdf e-book (grizzly 399.org) to some 24,000 lodging companies for their guests and hand distributed flyers and copies to over 50 hotels and businesses in the immediate area. Here is one of our flyers for use in places frequented by visitors.

The Guide, written by famous wildlife author Todd Wilkinson, not only provides valuable safety information for viewing wildlife, but also describes the animals with photos and discloses the likely locations for viewing. Remember, we have over 4 million people a year visit Yellowstone and over 3 million visit Grand Teton. We want to try to prevent visitors and residents from being mauled by a bear, gored by a bison, trampled by a moose, or speared by an elk.

We greatly appreciate each of you who love wildlife and hope to make the ecosystem safe for humans and animals to live in peaceful harmony. Thanks for your support and hope to see you June 1.

The Deidre Bainbridge Wildlife Fund, a 501(c)(3) Wyoming Organization

Co-Founders:

Tim Tennyson, President

Terri Thomas, Secretary

Ray Thomas, Treasurer

“Not the end, but just the beginning.”

A bear walking on the roadDescription automatically generated

Photo by Tim Tennyson