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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Picturing bears

“Breakfast with Bears” a hit with wildlife enthusiasts

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 8/16/17

RR— Morning showers did little to dampen the enthusiasm or keep cameras under cover last week as about two-dozen people turned out for an early visit to the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary. The …

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Picturing bears

“Breakfast with Bears” a hit with wildlife enthusiasts

Posted

RR— Morning showers did little to dampen the enthusiasm or keep cameras under cover last week as about two-dozen people turned out for an early visit to the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is normally open in the evenings, but their popular “Breakfast with the Bears” event gives visitors the chance to see wild black bears in their morning routines.

By August, the bears are in their “hyperphagia” phase, which is a period of intensive eating and drinking that allows bears to put on a layer of fat for their upcoming period of hibernation, and it’s the time of year that always draws large numbers of bears to the sanctuary. In the early years, when Vince Shute was still living at the site, the bears dined mostly on corn, donuts and other pastries. These days, sanctuary staff offers up a much healthier nix of nuts, sunflower seeds, and dried fruits, served buckets at a time at any of more than 100 feeding stations across the large grassy opening where the bears gather. Bears can eat up to 20,000 calories a day during August, so they pay little attention as sanctuary staff move among them replenishing food supplies on an almost constant basis. The bears, some weighing several hundred pounds, lounge casually while lapping up as much of the food as possible.

But any such gathering spot sparks inevitable interactions between the bears, which makes it perhaps the best place in North America to observe, and photograph, wild bear behavior up close.

Professional wildlife photographer Stan Tekiela was at the sanctuary for the breakfast event, to sell and sign some of his newest books of wildlife photos, with proceeds going to the sanctuary. Tekiela is a regular at the sanctuary, who said it’s an outstanding location for wildlife photography. In fact, he leads a photo tour and workshop at the sanctuary every year.

Others were equally enthusiastic. “I love this place,” said Sue Frei, a middle school teacher from Lakeville, who was busy taking dozens of photos of bears, and especially the dozen or so cubs that were hanging out with their mothers. Frei, who has a summer place near Pengilly, has been a regular at the sanctuary over the years and she said her classroom walls are filled with bear photos she’s taken at the sanctuary. “It’s really changed my perspective,” she said. “I have so much more respect for bears than before.”

Geraldine Piccard was another repeat visitor. She was the longtime editor and publisher of a community weekly newspaper in Tennessee but recently handed over the reins to a new generation and she’s taking time to explore in her retirement. “I just love the animals,” she said. “I know they’re being fed here, but they’re not pets. This is a chance to see them in their real habitat.”

It was a similar sentiment that attracted Steph and Ryan Horner to the sanctuary, and that prompted both of them to join the staff. Steph initially came to work as an intern, but was promoted to the sanctuary’s full-time director over three years ago, while Ryan is now part of the facility’s full-time seasonal staff. Steph has a degree in wildlife biology from St. Cloud State, while Ryan has a biology degree from Mayville State University in North Dakota.

Steph was also a manager for a Target store, which gave her experience in running a large facility that caters to the public. And the sanctuary continues to attract surprising numbers of visitors, notes sanctuary board president Dennis Udovich. Last year, over 14,000 visitors came to watch the bears in what Udovich calls “the state’s largest outdoor classroom,” and it’s on a pace to beat that attendance figure in 2017. “We’re having a great year,” he said.

The sanctuary operates a popular gift shop and now charges a modest entrance fee for visitors, which has helped stabilize the finances for the nonprofit entity, the American Bear Association, that operates the sanctuary. The business side of the operation, which also includes dealing with staff, crowds of visitors, buying and arranging for food shipments for the bears, and maintenance is significant, said Steph. “Feeding the bears is the easy part,” she said, even if the annual food bill tops $40,000.

As many as 50 bears were feeding last Tuesday morning during the breakfast event, and they’ll continue to feed up to 20 hours a day for the rest of the month. They’ll start slowing down in September as they begin to grow increasingly sluggish ahead of hibernation. By October, most females will be denned up for the winter, with the males typically following suit by early November.

Meanwhile, if you’d like the opportunity to view some of the many bears that visit the sanctuary for breakfast each day this time of year, the sanctuary is hosting another Breakfast with the Bears event on Tuesday, Aug. 22. Call 218-757-0172 for more information or to make a reservation.