Shannon Stevens was shocked to find there was a bear behind when she used an outhouse in Alaska.
A woman in Alaska says she “jumped up and screamed” after she was attacked by a bear while using the toilet.
Shannon Stevens sustained a puncture wound while using a remote outhouse toilet at Chilkat Lake last weekend.
After hearing her scream, Ms Stevens’ brother went to see what had caused the injury, only to find a bear’s head in the hole of the toilet.
Ms Stevens says the wound was caused by either a bite or a swipe from the animal’s claw.
She was spending the weekend in a yurt with her brother Erik and his girlfriend when the incident occurred. Earlier in the evening they had cooked sausages on an open firepit.
“I got out there and sat down on the toilet and immediately something bit my butt as I sat down,” she told the Associated Press news agency.
She screamed for her brother who came out with a head torch to help her.
After she pointed him to the toilet, Erik saw “right there at the level of the toilet seat was a cinnamon-coloured bear face,” he said.
They ran from the outhouse and into the yurt, opting to stay inside until it got light.
She managed to treat her wound using a first aid kit.
The following morning, they noticed bear prints by the firepit and the outhouse.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Carl Koch told KTOO News that he thinks the animal was a black bear.
“[She] might be the only person this has ever happened to. I wouldn’t be surprised over the years if other folks have had bizarre things – but during February to sit down in an outhouse and have something like that happen is very unusual.”
Ms Stevens told the Anchorage Daily News that she will practice a “look before you sit” policy in the future.