Bearizona

Bearizona is a wildlife park featuring North American animals. It was founded by Sean and Dennis Casey in 2010 and is located at 1500 E. (Historic) Route 66 in Williams, AZ. The park is approximately 160 acres and has both walk-thru and drive-thru areas. It's noted for its large population of juvenile and adult black bears, and I think about half the animals are rescues. While most large North American mammals reside at the park, there were no elk or moose when I visited in April of 2025. The park is closed from December 31 to March 1.
Note! I've included more videos of longer duration for this photoessay, so they may take some time to load. If something gets stuck just hit the refesh button.

Entrance

Drive-Thru Area

The drive-thru area is mostly covered in Ponderosa pine creating a natural habitat for the animals. The animals are free range, while it's the visitors who are enclosed in their vehicles with the windows up and doors locked. The drive through the area covers about 3 miles, and you can drive the loop as many times as you want.
A problem for us photographers is having to shoot through rolled up windows, so make sure they are really, really clean. The following animal photos are in the same order as they appear on the map. My favorites were the wolves and white bison.

Drive Thru Area

Rocky Mountain Goat
(Oreamnos americanus)

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus)

Coues deer, named after Dr. Elliott Coues, are a small subspecies of whitetail deer native to Arizona and the desert southwest. Coues deer bucks are only about 30 inches tall at the shoulder with an average weight of a little under 100 pounds.

Coues Deer (Odocoileus virginianus couesi)

Pronghorn (Antolocapra americana)
No Audio

American Burro (Equus asinus)

The Arctic Gang

Arctic Wolves - No Audio

Wolves Howling

Junior Black Bear (Ursus americanus)

Almost everyone knows that American Bison were hunted almost to extinction in the 1880s. They have made a comeback since then, numbering between 30 and 40 thousand today. Wild white bison are an extremely rare subset that have a genetic mutation resulting in white or blond fur. Bearizona has a small herd of white bison, but I don't think they are wild. They are hybrid offspring of bison and Charolais cattle. Nevertheless they are impressive and visually striking animals.

American Bison aka buffalo (Bison bison)

Bison Herd

White Bison

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep
(Ovis canadensis)

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

Adult American Black Bear
(Ursus americanus)

Black Bears - No Audio

Black Bear - No Audio

Black Bears - No Audio

Adult Black Bear - No Audio

Walk-Thru Area (Fort Bearizona)

The walk-thru area is set up like a contemporay zoo. The 20 acre area houses smaller animals in large enclosures. There are also eateries (Canyonlands Restaurant and Bearizona Grill), a bar, gift shops (Big Bear and Warpath Designs), restrooms, picnic areas, event venues, and exhibits. I didn't photograph all the animals in Fort Bearizona; some were uncooperative, some non-photogenic, and some I just missed. Especially bummed I didn't get the jaguar. I liked the foxes and otters the best.

Walk-Thru Map

Entrance to Walk-Thru Area

Warpath Design Gift Shop

North American Porcupine
(Erethizon dorsatum)

Collared Peccary aka Javelina
(Dicotyles tajacu)

Barnyard

Red Fox

Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

American Badger (Taxidea taxus)

Central Park

Cocktail-Thirty

Oustanding Sculpture

North American River Otter
(Lontra canadensis)

Otter at Play

A Little Preening

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Background information obtained from Bearizona literature and Wikipedia. Maps courtesy of Bearizona Wildlife Park.