Anchorage Daily News

PORTAGE -- Their table manners wouldn't have impressed etiquette experts, but three grizzly bears entertained a crowd at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center by dining on a moose's hind quarter Sunday afternoon.

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About a hundred people gathered to watch nature run wild -- in a controlled setting, of course.

The demonstration was a chance to show people the hierarchy that is part of brown-bear eating habits, said Mike Miller, the center's executive director.

It was also a chance to shine a light on the brown bears as the center attempts to raise money for a planned $6 million bear education center, which would be built near the 18-acre enclosure that is home to J.B., Petron and Hugo.

As the late brunch played out, the crowd rooted for Hugo -- the smallest of the bears who was chased away by Petron almost as soon as Miller dumped the hind quarter out of a front-end loader and into the enclosure.

Although the bears growled with their mouths full and sent pieces of flesh flying as they tore into their treat with sharp, scary-looking teeth, the feeding frenzy was almost polite by grizzly standards.

"I'm surprised they're sharing as much as they are," Miller said.

J.B. (short for Joe Boxer), the only male, got first dibs and quickly tore through the moose hide to get to the red flesh. Before joining in, Petron let out a roar and gave chase to Hugo, who didn't return to the scene until J.B. and Petron had ripped most of the meat off the bone.

Instead, Hugo ate some grass and went for a swim in a nearby pond, where she found a piece of dead fish. She shook it playfully in her mouth a couple of times before letting it fly. The fish barely hit the water when a bird swooped in and snatched it.

"Mother Nature's just doing its thing," said onlooker Maxine Vehlow of Anchorage, who heard about the feeding late Sunday morning and canceled other plans so she could catch the show. "I don't want to see Hugo get hurt over it, though."

Not to worry. No harm came to any of the bears, and the moose in question had sacrificed its life a week earlier when it tumbled off a bridge on the nearby Portage Glacier access road.

Loud, vicious fights often break out among brown bears when food is at stake, Miller said.

"If you've ever watched two German shepherds fight, it can leave you a little weak-kneed," he said. "When you're done watching bears fight, you're shaking so hard you can't walk."

David Schenk of Anchorage might have felt a little weak-kneed as he watched the bears sort out who got to eat first, but only because he'd had a close encounter with a Dolphin.

"I got to meet Larry Csonka," said Schenk, a football fan who roots for the Green Bay Packers but recognizes a Hall of Famer when he sees one.

Csonka, a member of the 1972 Miami Dolphins team that boasts the only undefeated season in NFL history, was on hand with a film crew to capture the feeding for his "North to Alaska" outdoors show.

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.

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