When using an outhouse in the backcountry, an Alaska woman had the scare of a lifetime when she was struck by a bear from below.
Shannon Stevens told the Associated Press, "I got out there and sat down on the toilet, and almost something instantly bit my butt just after I sat down." The incident made her jump up screaming.
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Outhouse Assault
Stevens, her brother Erik, and his girlfriend took snowmobiles to the wilderness on February 13 to stay at his yurt in south-east Alaska, around 20 miles north-west of Haines.
Her brother heard the scream and went to the outhouse around 150 feet away from the yurt.
To see what it was, Erik had taken a headlamp with him.
He opened the toilet seat, and at the level of the toilet seat, there's just a bear's face right there, just looking right back up through the hole, right at him.
And as soon as I could, I shut the lid. I said, "There's a bear over there, and now we have to get out of here," he said. "And as quickly as we could, we ran back into the yurt."
Minor Injury
They treated Shannon with a first aid kit until they were safely inside. They decided that it was not that bad, but they would go to Haines if it escalated.
"It was bleeding, but it wasn't terrible," said Shannon.
They noticed bear footprints all over the property the next morning, but the bear had left the area. "Through the snow, you could see them coming up to the side of the outhouse," she said.
They claim the bear got into an opening at the bottom of the back door inside the outhouse.
"I expect that the little den in the winter will not be so bad," Shannon said.
Bear Attacks
Alaska department of fish and game wildlife management scientist Carl Koch believes that it was a black bear based on images of the footprints he found and the fact that two days later, a friend living about a half-mile away sent him a snapshot of a black bear on her farm.
The homeowner shouted at the bear, but it didn't respond. It also did not approach her but lumbered about its business like it was in a walking hibernation mode.
Koch said they get calls all year round of bears being out even though it's winter. And 2020 was a record year in the Haines region for general bear concerns.
Reasons for that, he said, may involve the fact that, combined with a mediocre berry harvest, it was a lousy salmon season.
Unbelievable Experience
Koch believes Shannon's bite was inflicted, rather than being bitten, by the bear swatting at her with a claw. Either way, the place may be a first.
"When you're sitting down in winter, as far as getting swatted on the butt, she could be the only person on Earth that this has ever happened to, for all I know," Koch said.
Erik says he'll take bear spray with him all the way when he heads into the backcountry, no matter the season, and Shannon plans to change one habit, too.
"I'm just going to look better in the bathroom before sitting down, for sure," she said.
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