Guests staying at a Montana hotel received the shock of their lives when they found a big, hairy intruder in the women’s bathroom — a black bear.
“The bear had found a window with enough of an opening to get into the ladies’ room by the lobby,” says David O’Connor, co-owner of Buck’s T-4 Lodge in Big Sky. “The bear wasn’t able to get himself back out as the window was too high, but he was real comfortable there. He just hung out on the counter where it was cool, and literally went to sleep.” It was still sawing logs, sprawled out across the restroom’s marble countertop, when guests made the startling discovery.
Fortunately, the cute-but-potentially dangerous animal stayed asleep long enough for animal welfare officials to arrive. They administered a tranquilizer and carried the bear back to its natural habitat. Because the hotel isn’t far from Yellowstone National Park, O’Connor says encounters with wild animals aren’t uncommon in the area — although “there is an element of safety to consider” when an encounter involves a bear.