Ecologists Take Swipe at a New Zoo in Montana Made for Grizzlies Only : Wildlife: Developer wants it to be centerpiece for complex bordering Yellowstone. A foe says putting it near park sends ‘grossly mixed messages.’

A newly opened zoo for grizzly bears bordering Yellowstone National Park is coming under fire from environmental and wildlife groups.

The Grizzly Discovery Center opened to the public in August in the small town of West Yellowstone, on the western edge of the national park where hundreds of grizzlies roam in the wild.

Currently, the zoo has just three grizzlies, but developers plan within five years to expand the facility into a $50-million complex of hotels, restaurants, a giant-screen movie theater, a museum and a dozen captive grizzlies in three one-acre pens.

The project is the brainchild of local developer Lewis Robinson, who has been trying to make it happen for eight years. It would be one of the largest tourist facilities in the West.

The development is to be built on an 87-acre parcel, the last undeveloped piece of private ground adjacent to the park. Robinson says $15 million already has been committed to the project.

Keeping captive bears so close to Yellowstone, home to a threatened population of about 225 wild grizzlies, has not gone down well with environmental groups.

“Having a zoo directly next to America’s premier national park sends grossly mixed messages,” said Bob Ekey, spokesman for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, one of many environmental groups that tried to block Robinson from getting the licenses he needed to open the zoo.

Ekey, speaking from Bozeman, 90 miles north of here, said bears should be treated like wild animals, not zoo animals.

The grizzly is a threatened species in the continental United States, but Robinson’s bears were bred in captivity from Alaskan stock and aren’t considered endangered under federal law.

“We hope the wild grizzlies are not attracted by the odors or activities of the captive bears,” Ekey said.

If wild bears are drawn into town, conflicts with humans are almost inevitable. In such cases, the bears usually wind up dead or sent to cages outside the area.

Robinson says odor problems have been taken care of and discounts the possibility of attracting wild bears. He says he wants his facility to provide a sanctuary for bears that get into trouble and otherwise would be killed.

In addition, the zoo will provide the only chance most park visitors get to see one of the reclusive bears. “That’s been my goal all along,” he said.

Local residents were given a free peek, before the public opening, at the three grizzlies. Declawed and neutered, two 125-pound, six-month-old males cavorted and wrestled, climbed trees and soaked themselves in a pond, much to the delight of hundreds of townspeople.

Early arrivals also viewed a 600-pound, semi-adult male, who was put back in his den before the young bears appeared.

“He’d kill those young guys immediately,” Robinson said.

The bears roam a one-acre enclosure behind wire fences. Visitors view them from a gravel walkway around the perimeter.

Robinson, who calls the center a refuge rather than a zoo, is able to keep the captive bears because they were bred in captivity from Alaskan stock and are therefore not covered by the Endangered Species Act.

Ekey said his group is urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has authority over the grizzly, not to give Robinson a permit to accept local bears.

“I don’t think it’s proper to have a threatened or endangered species used for private gain,” Ekey said.

Robinson expects about half a million paying customers will visit every year.

Signs and exhibits offer advice and warnings. An educational program is planned about bears and their habitat needs.