A California teacher was greeted by an unsuspected guest Tuesday after she caught a bear charging into her classroom and roaming around.
Elaine Salmon, a teacher at Peak to Peak Mountain Charter School in Pine Mountain Club, California, was preparing her classroom for the upcoming school year when a bear broke in, according to ABC23.
Salmon said she left her classroom to make copies and returned soon after.
“I opened my classroom door and this bear was charging towards the door,” she told the outlet.
She then closed the door to lock the animal in, leaving her phone trapped with it, the outlet reported. She went to the office to call her husband for help.
Salmon’s husband, Ian Sawrey, came to her rescue, attempting to get the bear out of the classroom, the outlet reported.
In a video shared on Twitter, the bear can be seen roaming around the classroom. In one clip, the bear appears to be standing on furniture, rummaging through curtains. In another clip, the bear can be seen sniffing around the desks. (RELATED: Video Shows Bear Chowing Down On Gumbo Before Lunging At Concession Stand Worker).
A wild sight for a California teacher as she was getting her class ready for the first day of school! 🐻🤓📚
Elaine Salmon said she was walking back into her classroom in Kern County after printing copies in the office when she was confronted by a bear. https://t.co/So5ulcckjQ pic.twitter.com/pQ1SlacMtL
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) August 9, 2024
“My first thought was, is it gonna do any damage? I have a brand new floor and I already have my decorations up,” Salmon told ABC23.
Sawrey eventually coaxed the bear out through the door, the outlet noted.
One of the classroom’s earthquake kits was damaged in the process, but the rest of the room remained unscathed, the outlet reported.
“We usually have an earthquake kit where they have snacks just in case of an emergency and he went through that,” she told ABC23.
The bear reportedly ran off to the nearby mountains. Salmon said the bear did return, joking that it’s proof of how much bears love “salmon.”
Salmon told ABC23 that the school had never experienced bears in close proximity while students were around, but the district had precautions set in place.
