Bear Center in Ely, MN

 Last Saturday I got to go with my dad and his girlfriend up north to Ely, Minnesota.  It was the weekend of the annual Blueberry Festival.  We walked around the huge arts fair and saw all kinds of interesting things for sale.  We had a picnic by a lake.  And then we went to the Bear Center and saw 4 black bears up close.

 The bears enjoyed being fed peanuts.  They took the whole peanut with shell into their mouth and then very quickly spit just the shell out while chewing up the peanuts.
There are 4 bears at the center.  They are there because they wouldn't be able to survive on their own in the wild for one reason or another.

The center is full of all kinds of interesting educational displays.  You can learn all about bears, but there is also information on other animals that live in this region.  There is a theater for films.  We watched a documentary done by the BBC that had been filmed in the area featuring a scientist who researched the bears by following them around and observed them up close.  I learned that it is incredibly unlikely for a bear to attack a person and so I don't need to be afraid if I go hiking or camping in the woods.