As we said in the title, this may sound like the start of a bad joke, but a bear really did walk into a hotel.
You may be asking yourself “why is this a notable event?” Well, it’s less about the fact that bear was strolling into an overnight establishment, but more about how the staff reacted.
For those who do not live in an area that has a high population of bears, one might have freaked out at the sight of the large mammal. Since the bear was wandering into a hotel located in Seward, Alaska, he was treated differently.
According to Bustle, the bear walked “into the hotel through a door that had been left propped open for cleaning staff.” At first, no one noticed the unexpected guest.
Cheryl Verschueren told KTUU that when she laid eyes on the bear all she really thought was “how did the bear get here?” If we would have seen a bear within walking distance of us, we are sure we would not have been as chill. There would have been a series of screams and expletives flung around in the moment.
Phil Valenza, who is a co-worker of Cheryl, decided to confront the animal. Phil told KTUU that he was looking the bear “dead in the eyes” and was trying to figure out which was he was going to run. During a large part of the interaction, Phil was trying to communicate with the bear. Eventually, his conversation worked and the bear walked back out of the door.
Even though he may have solved one bear run-in, the creature decided he missed being in the hotel. Later that evening, the mammal walked back into the hotel grounds. Not to worry, the bear was not injured in the incident and found his way out yet again.
As of right now, the bear has not visited the location again. Maybe the hotel finally decided to hang out a vacancy sign to let the bear know he’s not wanted!
Sarah is a Hufflepuff living in NYC. When she is not traveling or talking to random animals, she is working as a script writer. Tweet her at @lumpyspacederp