Feeding polar bears from a tank, 1950 - Rare Historical Photos

The soldiers fed the polar bears with condensed milk tins. Soviet Union, 1950.

Photo was taken during a routine military expedition in Chukchi Peninsula, Soviet Union. It isn’t sure if the Chukchi Peninsula has more people or white bears.

The climate is very severe and sometimes weather can be so fierce in winter that the temperature falls 40 C degrees below zero (-40 Fahrenheit) so that poor white bears and their cubs start starving and freezing.

The soldiers, who served in the Army District of Chukchi Peninsula, didn’t turn their backs on the poor and starving animals and started to feed them every now and then.

Of course, you do not have such big amounts of meat at home to feed several white bears. And soldiers decided to feed the bears up with what they had in abundance – tins, or to be more exact, condensed milk.

Soldiers would open such a tin with a tin-opener and then give the can to the bear who licked all the milk from tin and then feed her little bears with it. Those blue and white tins of condensed milk were the winter dessert staple of every Soviet kid.

The condensed milk (called in Russian: sgushchennoye moloko) had an indeterminately long shelf life and there was always plenty of it. It was a common dessert in the army too.

It isn’t surprising to see it given away to bears because unlike some stuff that was rationed condensed milk in USSR was available in unlimited amounts.

The tracked vehicle you see in the photo is a GT-SM GAZ-34036, fully amphibious. This vehicle was widely employed by the Soviet Military.

It was an over-snow vehicle designed for a variety of roles, but primarily as a general cargo/troop carrier and light artillery/heavy mortar tractor. The GT-S is also capable of traversing shallow swamp areas.

The layout is conventional, with an engine compartment at the front, a cab behind that, and the cargo/troop section behind the cab. The towing capacity of the GT-S is 2 tons.

Giving a kiss to the bear cub.

Here is some milk for you!

A group of Soviet soldiers feeding a polar bear.

(Photo credit: Russian Archives).

11 Comments

Marcin Zakrzewski August 11, 2014

from Spitzbergen?

dmitryas August 31, 2015

Looks more like polar-zone workers on all-terrain vehicle.

Lakran November 19, 2015

Wish people do this now instead of hunting!

somebody September 11, 2016

Hunting is natural thing. Either be hunted or hunt yourself. Basic thing in nature.
Bear eats fish...basically hunting, fish eats smaller forms of life... etc. etc. Why you're not trying to defend fish instead? Everyone hunts for them...

foo January 27, 2016

If polar bears active hunt humans how could they do this?

Sergei April 18, 2016

A note on the condensed milk - we'd also boil the tin for... two-three hours as far as I remember. It turns dark brown, thick and even more tasty then. But sometimes the tin would expliode if you forget about it and would splash the kitchen beautiful :)

Mark Seidenberg November 27, 2016

Sergei,

i note your comment on the condensed milk story of 18 April 2016. How common was it
To feed Polar Bears by Soviet Troops condensed
milk?

When I visited the GULAG at the Nasha (Our in English) River on Wrangell Island in 1995 I saw the shell of such a tank.

Raoul Wallenberg was a "guest" of the Soviet Union in one of the many "guest houses", viz.,
Huts at that Soviet era GULAG on the shore of
the Nasha River in 1962, that information came
out at a United States Senate hearings on February 1 & 2, 1973.

cock November 7, 2016

When they got back to base, they were reprimanded for wasting the food of the soviet people and then were sent to the gulag to die.

Ivi January 8, 2017

In Soviet Russia, Polar Bears do not feed with you, you feed Polar Bears.

jonathan763 April 24, 2018

Absolutely amazing. The things we can learn! I was taught that it's very foolhardy and dangerous to feed hungry bears in this way. Since polar bears are predators and carnivores, I would expect them to attack humans when they're hungry. Soldiers are trained to be fearless; however, I believe I would never put myself in this kind of situation, it's too risky.

Veronika August 13, 2019

This is amazing. Mostly because polar bears and bears in general are carnivorous.... I wouldn't try this closely. Maybe from afar. But still I wouldn't risk it . But that's great these people have guts to... but I definetely wouldn't kill one either. Bears natural thing its eat meat. So dont judge a bear for loving food. Because we love food too.
And we are food for them. As some animals are food for us

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