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A black bear looks around the second floor hallway of the Alaskan Hotel on Sunday, July 5, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Queenie Lim)<\/p>\nA black bear looks around the second floor hallway of the Alaskan Hotel on Sunday, July 5, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Queenie Lim)<\/p>\n
Listen to this story:\u00a0<\/p>\n
https:\/\/media.ktoo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/06HotelBear-WEB.mp3<\/a><\/p>\n A black bear entered Juneau\u2019s historic Alaskan Hotel around noon on Sunday. Hotel staff said the bear let itself out with a loud crash just a short while later.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bear crawled through the open, second story window of room 213, which is at ground level since the hotel is built into the hillside.<\/p>\n Queenie Lim, a housekeeper at the Alaskan, said she was on her way to clean room 214 when she saw the bear. She said she didn\u2019t believe her eyes, so she double-checked before calling other staff over.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very excited to see the bear here, but I never expect that I will see the bear, like, in the hotel,\u201d Lim said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Lim said this is her first summer in Alaska, and her first-ever bear sighting. She\u2019s in a cultural exchange program from Malaysia.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was just in shock,\u201d said Diarta Jashari, a housekeeper who joined Lim on the scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n Together, they saw the bear walk down the hall into the open door of room 208. The guest staying there had just checked out.\u00a0<\/p>\n They decided to trap the bear in the room.<\/p>\n \u201cOne guest was here \u2014 a guy \u2014 and then he was like, \u2018oh, I\u2019m interested to see the bear,\u2019 and then he helped us to close the door, and then we called the police,\u201d Jashari said.\u00a0<\/p>\n But by the time the police came, the bear was gone. Local resident Quinton Woolman-Morgan recorded the police scanner radio chatter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey trapped him in 208, They heard a window broke and \u2014 break \u2014\u00a0 and believe that the bear left through that broken window, but they\u2019re unsure,\u201d an officer said over the radio.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bear left behind not only shattered glass, but a big pile of scat on top.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bettye Adams, owner of the Alaskan Hotel and Bar, said the animal must have been as nervous as the staff.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe it,\u201d Adams said. \u201cIt was having anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n The black bear broke the window in room 208 to leave. (Photo by Alix Soliman\/KTOO)<\/p>\n But what attracted the bear in the first place?\u00a0<\/p>\n The trash can in room 213 was tipped over. Hotel staff said it contained a mostly empty takeout food box and not much else.\u00a0<\/p>\n