Bears find a buffet of battlefield rations at Alaska military base

There’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 “Meals Ready to Eat” (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.

On October 28, personnel with the JBER – often pronounced, fittingly, as “J-Bear” – 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 – which the bears appeared to have gotten into – have slightly more than 1,540 calories, according to the Defense Logistics Agency.

But bears aren’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 driver’s side of a Humvee.

Personnel later opened several exterior doors and “employed tactics to get the bear’s attention” 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 “very rare,” 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.

“When more natural food for bears like berries, crabapples and salmon become scarce, bears will seek other sources,” explained James Wendland, JBER wildlife conservation law enforcement officer with the 673d Civil Engineer Squadron. “Bears are opportunistic and will follow their noses looking for food even if that’s in open buildings or unlocked vehicles.”