JBER Bears Go Viral After Raiding Krispy Kreme Van and Chowing Down Outside Express

Bear sightings aren’t that unusual at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, which is in southern Alaska with lots of forest nearby. But a recent bear raid on a Krispy Kreme van at a JBER Express has generated national attention.

Last week, a Krispy Kreme driver left the back door of his van open while making a delivery at the Joint Military Express at Elmendorf AFB. Seizing an opportunity, a female black bear and one of her cubs entered the van and began chowing down on doughnuts and doughnut holes.

“We’d seen the bears that morning outside the store,” said Express Manager Shelly Deano. “I saw the mama bear near the van and couldn’t see where she was going. I couldn’t find her anywhere, and then we heard her moving around the van and breaking open the packages. And then a baby bear went inside with her and they just started eating the doughnuts.”

Deano and several customers began taking photos of the bears in the van. “We eventually called security because they weren’t coming out,” she says. “I tried banging on the van to get them out and they just weren’t moving.”

Security police arrived and sounded loud sirens, which worked to get the bears out of the van. They roamed around outside the store for a few minutes and then wandered off. “They were there for a while,” Deano said. “It was quite a commotion for a while. A second cub came later but didn’t enter the van.”

Deano said that bears will get into garbage cans on the base, but that most bear raids happen at night. These bears happened to dine in the morning. Usually a female bear with cubs poses a risk because the mother bear’s instinct is to protect the cubs.

“Usually when a mama bear has cubs, you don’t want to get close to them, because she could charge you,” Deano said. “But this one was too involved in the doughnuts. When they finally got her out, she just kind of hung around out front. I think it’s because they’ve been around the base and they’re getting used to people.”

Deano added that because winter is approaching, the bears will probably begin hibernating within the next month.

After Anchorage TV station KTUU reported on the bears’ visit, national media such as CNN,  The Associated Press and the Washington Post picked up the story, using photos taken by Deano.

“It’s kind of exploded,” Deano said. “I’ve gotten so many phone calls about this and about getting permission to use my pictures. I’ve received calls from so many news outlets. I even looked online yesterday to see who’s covered the story and it’s all over the place.”

Deano said she never expected the story to go that far.

“It was just cute, bears in a van eating doughnuts, which you don’t see every day,” she said. “I just think it’s fun. It’s been fun at work the past week. It was quite amusing.”