Hotel guest in Tibet hears pounding on their door at 3 AM, then locks eyes with the bear that broke it down

A hotel guest in Tibet came face-to-face with a bear after the animal broke down their room door, according to UPI. Surveillance footage said to be from inside the hotel appears to show the bear pounding on the door repeatedly before forcing its way in.

The incident reportedly took place on July 4th in Nagqu, a prefecture-level city in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The guest inside the room reportedly locked eyes with the bear for a few seconds before it moved on to explore the rest of the hotel.

No one was reported injured during the incident, and the bear was reportedly chased off the property afterward. The hotel’s owner has apparently since taken steps to “bear-proof” the property following the break-in.

Bear entered through the front door before reaching the guest’s room

Before reaching the guest’s room, the bear reportedly entered the hotel through its front door. The animal apparently made its way to the front desk, where it went through water bottles and helped itself to some of them. In another case, a 70-pound black bear went after a California couple’s dogs before they grabbed a water bottle and a hatchet handle.

The bear then reportedly moved toward the occupied room, where surveillance footage show it pounding on the door before breaking it down. After the brief encounter with the guest, the bear appeared to continue exploring the hotel before it was chased off the premises.

The species involved is believed to be a Tibetan brown bear, a distinct type of brown bear that has adapted to the climate of the Tibetan Plateau, according to a study by bioRxiv. The Tibetan Plateau spans roughly 970,000 square miles and is located north of the Himalayas. 

That same study, released earlier this year, estimates the region is home to around 6,300 Tibetan brown bears. The study notes that these bears “frequently come into conflict with nomadic herders and high-altitude communities,” and it cites cases where bears have broken into homes while searching for food.

Any prior similar incidents at hotels in the region were not reported. In a separate incident, an animal charity found a room crammed with 250 dogs in an image so heartbreaking they had to deny it was AI.