Vince Shute's Bears

While we were up at Lake Vermilion we drove over to Orr, Minnesota to see bears.

Orr maybe you've heard about Vince Shute's Wildlife Sanctuary already? :)

On our way there, Viggo guessed we would see 30 bears and I think that was pretty accurate! It was incredible to see so many bears.

You drive into the woods and then a big yellow bus takes you deeper into the woods. Svea's first ride on a school bus! She was so excited. The bus pulls up to a platform and you walk up a handful of steps and then . . . you see bears.

People from all over the world come to volunteer at the sanctuary and visit the bears.

Vince Shute was a logger who killed many, many bears trying to defend his logging camp.

Bears came into his camp and would raid the kitchen and other cabins looking for food.

Eventually Vince decided to try feeding the bears instead of killing them. He set food out and the bears gravitated toward that and left the camp kitchen alone.

And then word got out in the bear community and more and more bears came to eat at Vince's. They kept coming . . . and Vince kept feeding them.

Vince Shute has since passed away, but his logging camp now exists as a bear sanctuary. As guests there, we were told that bears are "annoying, dangerous pests" and to "never establish such a bad habit as Vince Shute did".

I promise I will never, ever do that. Although Viggo looked tempted . . .