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Bears find a buffet of battlefield rations at Alaska military base

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Wildlife Conservation Law Enforcement personnel responded to a report of a bear being inside a motor pool building. Upon entering the building, officers observed a black bear in one of the military vehicles.
JBER Wildlife Conservation Law Enforcement Office via CNN Newsource
November 22, 2024
Isaac Yee - CNN

(CNN) โ€” Thereโ€™s an old military adage that an army runs on its stomach, meaning troops need to be well-supplied with food to survive harsh battlefield conditions.

In modern times, the US military stockpiles โ€œMeals Ready to Eatโ€ (MREs), full meals that can be consumed with the convenience of just tearing open a bag, to sustain troops in the field.

And in Alaska recently, MREs have found new fans: Hungry bears who broke into a storage room at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to feast on the military rations.

Bears find a buffet of battlefield rations at Alaska military base
Bears find a buffet of battlefield rations at Alaska military base

On October 28, personnel with the JBER โ€“ often pronounced, fittingly, as โ€œJ-Bearโ€ โ€“ Wildlife Conservation Law Enforcement Office responded to reports of a bear in a storage room on base. Upon arriving at the scene, they found the room had been the site of a bruin snackfest, with a mess of open food packaging scattered about, according to a statement from the base.

Images sent to CNN by the base showed open MREs strewn across the floor, though it is unclear what flavors they were. Bears apparently indulged their sweet tooth, too, with an open packet of M&Ms visible in the mess.

But bear requirements and human ones are way different. An average human needs between 1,600 and 3,000 calories a day. A bear needs 10 times that amount.

An average MRE contains around 1,250 calories, though cold weather MREs โ€“ which the bears appeared to have gotten into โ€“ have slightly more than 1,540 calories, according to the Defense Logistics Agency.

Bears find a buffet of battlefield rations at Alaska military base
While investigating a report of a bear in a motor pool building on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, JBER Wildlife Conservation Law Enforcement personnel saw evidence of boxes of MREs, and other food packages open inside the back of a military vehicle.

But bears arenโ€™t only targeting food on the base near Anchorage.

In another incident on November 2, JBER personnel responded to a bear inside a motor pool building. Upon arrival at the scene, agents observed a 1-year-old bear sitting inside the driverโ€™s side of a Humvee.

Personnel later opened several exterior doors and โ€œemployed tactics to get the bearโ€™s attentionโ€ and subsequently drew the bear outside of the building, according to a statement from JBER.

The base responds to around 600 bear reports a year, but incidents of bears gaining access to buildings were โ€œvery rare,โ€ a spokesperson for the base told CNN. Most of these calls require little to no intervention and are just bears passing through the area, they added.

But the bruins can sniff out a meal, officials said.

โ€œWhen more natural food for bears like berries, crabapples and salmon become scarce, bears will seek other sources,โ€ explained James Wendland, JBER wildlife conservation law enforcement officer with the 673d Civil Engineer Squadron. โ€œBears are opportunistic and will follow their noses looking for food even if thatโ€™s in open buildings or unlocked vehicles.โ€

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