On Friday, May 8 a black bear locked itself in a bathroom at the Quality Inn & Suites in downtown Gatlinburg, Tennessee – and locked itself inside. The hotel called police.
Video of the police response shows officers working the door open, with one appearing to use a two-by-four, cracking the door and retreating. The bear opened the door, stepped out, looked toward the officers, and headed off in the opposite direction. The only reported property damage was a broken $50 bathroom mirror.
Gatlinburg sits next to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which has about 1,900 black bears (two bears per square mile). So the bear part isn’t unusual. They just don’t usually lock themselves in hotel bathrooms when they need to potty.
In fact, there were at least four hotel bear incidents in the town in June/July 2024. Two were at the Super 8 on Historic Nature Trail, where a woman left her room just after midnight and was scratched by a bear eating from an unsecured trash can (the bear was euthanized) and where a man leaving his room around 6 a.m. was scratched on the arm by a bear eating from a trash can.
Aw that looks to be a young black bear. Always curious and looking for a snack. Fellow AT hikers have used the Quality Inn for r & r from the trail.
I thought that the proximate event for this took place in the woods.
@OHare +1. or maybe +2.
‘Ayyy Boo-boo… pick-a-nick baskettt!’