Rocky Mountain Wildlife Park in Pagosa Springs, Colorado

The Rocky Mountain Wildlife Park is a privately owned facility that has been in operation since 1986. Our purpose here is to be able to educate people about the animals in this area. We also give people the chance to see these beautiful animals up close in what would be their natural habitats. By trying to keep everything as natural as possible for them it helps them to feel at ease in their enclosures even with people walking so close to their dens or houses.

All of our animals are non-releasable due to a variety of reasons. Our zookeeper's strive to keep them as happy and healthy for the remainder of their lives. In fact, we still have our original black bear (Cubby) that was brought to the facility when we first opened back in 1986. He and some of the other animals have even dipped their paws in the movie business and on television. We have been very fortunate with some great animals here. Most of our animals we have at this facility are rescues from people who had them before as pets and realized they don’t make good pets or they were orphaned and DOW declared them non-releasable due to their lack of fear of people. While others were either born at our facility or at another facility.

Video made in 2005.
Whatever their history is, we now have them to care for and teach people about their species with hopes of preserving their livelihood on our planet. Our animals here have lost their natural fear of people and the fact that they are served their meals daily they would never know how to survive in the wild. If ever released they would most likely be killed trying to get to people for food or starve to death because they had never been taught how to find food. Non of our animals are in a position to go to a rehab center due to human acclimation and their only other option would be death if thy were not in a zoo.

Our goal is to try to keep them as happy and healthy as possible. By educating people who are interested in wildlife, we can help to preserve their existence. We can also give everyone the chance to see and learn about the animals that they may come in contact with while living in Pagosa Springs area or even just visiting the area and out on a hike. More and more people are having encounters with wildlife as we move into their territory. We hope to help teach people how to avoid what could be a dangerous situation.


This facility receives no state or federal funding and relies solely on donations, admissions, and sales proceeds from the gift shop.