Bare necessities? Bears tore into MRE packets at a military supply room

A military base in Alaska recently discovered that MREs are not safe from bears. Military personnel contacted the Wildlife Conservation Law Enforcement Office, a.k.a. “JBER,” to report the incident. When law enforcement arrived at the scene, they saw evidence of the bear snack-fest. They found packages torn into and opened MREs across the floor.

From CNN:

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.

Additional Reading:

Yee, I. (2024, November 22). Bears find a buffet of battlefield rations at Alaska military base. CNN. Link.

Category: Army, Army News, National Guard