ANCHORAGE, Alaska — It's the time of the year where bears are fattening up for their long winter nap, and some black bears in The Last Frontier must have figured donuts would help accelerate the process.
On Tuesday, a woman who runs a Krispy Kreme store in Anchorage, Alaska, got an unusual call from her delivery driver. He was reporting that bears were in the back of his van.
"For me, I didn't believe it, I was really astonished," store manager Candice Sargeant said. "There's no way that bears are in the back of the van, you would think. Doughnuts and bears and I was like, 'OK, how do we solve this?'"
The van's driver had been inside a store, unaware that a bold mama bear and her cubs were nearby, on the prowl for something sweet to eat. A store employee heard noises coming from the van and quickly realized what was happening.
"I said, 'He's in the van!' and then the little cub followed and went inside the van and they just started eating the doughnuts," Shelly Deano said.
Deano took a few pictures of the raid.
"You could hear them breaking open the packages," Deano said. "We were trying to beat on the van but they just kept eating on the donuts. They ate 20 packages of the donut holes and I believe six packages of the three-pack chocolate doughnuts, they did."
As you might imagine, the experience has caused the company to plan to do things a little differently in the future.
"We'll definitely be learning to slide up our ramp (and) close the doors to ensure that bears don't get back in there again," Sargeant said.
Security officers from the military base where the store is situated used sirens that eventually caused the bears to leave the van. After that, the family ambled into a nearby wooded area.
A statement from the base said they have concerns about bears attracted to human foods and are working with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to address the situation.