Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary

A great story about the Vince Shute Wildlife Sancuary located in Orr Minnesota, just minutes from Aspen MN Resort! Beguiled by bears In northern Minnesota, the man who loved bears left a legacy for thousands. A bear cub takes refuge in a tree at the wildlife sanctuary. Half a century ago, a Minnesota logger who lived in a forest full of hungry bears decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. By the time he died at age 86, Vince Shute had fed generations of black bears, become best friends with a bear named Brownie and inspired bear-lovers all over the world. Shute wasn't a sophisticated man, but he had a heart. "In 1942, Vince Shute had a logging camp, and it had a cookshack,'' says Bill Lea of the American Bear Association. "The bears would smell those good smells and break into the shack. Now, Vince and his men were afraid of bears, and every time one came, they'd shoot it. He said that over the next 10 years, he killed scores of bears. "So finally, Vince came up with another plan. He thought, 'Maybe if I put food outside the cabin, they won't break in.' Well, it worked. What Vince didn't count on is that he would end up feeding these bears for nearly 50 years.'' Every day, some of the 80 bears in the forest near Orr, just south of Voyageurs National Park, would drop by for a snack, depending on what else they could find in the woods. As Shute aged, volunteers began helping him at his homestead, and in 1996, they built a raised wooden observation deck for the thousands of people who showed up to watch him feed the bears. Today, it's the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary, where volunteer naturalists Read More: https://midwestweekends.com/plan_a_trip/nature/birds_wildlife/orr_bear_sanctuary_minnesota.html