Bears eat firefighter lunches

[Nighthiker]

From the Arizona Republic

Bears Can’t bear it eat firefighter’s lunches

Just to prove that no good deed goes unpunished, firefighters battling the "KP" blaze in eastern Arizona lost their lunches to some bears.

A helicopter crew delivered sack lunches to the crews working along the fire's southern flank. But before the firefighters could get to them, the bears moved in. All was not lost: The bears did not touch the meals-ready-to-eat that had also been brought in for the fire crews, so no one starved.

"A bear can't be that hungry, or they're smarter than we think," said Bob Dyson, a forest official with the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. Dyson was among the crew that had to make do with the freeze-dried MREs.

But he was philosophical: The sack lunches were a special treat that no one was counting on. Except, perhaps, the bears.