Bear Spotted Inside School, Sniffing Around Classroom Of Teacher Named Salmon

Well, you do usually find salmon in schools.

A juvenile black bear was caught on camera exploring a school in Kern County, California, on Tuesday. Specifically, the bear was exploring the classroom of teacher Elaine Salmon.

“I opened my classroom door and this bear was charging towards the door,” Salmon, who was preparing for the start of the school year at Peak to Peak Mountain Charter School in Pine Mountain Club, told KERO-TV in Bakersfield.

Salmon quickly shut the door, containing the bear in the room. She called her husband, Ian Sawrey, a retired police officer who coincidentally now has a business specializing in bear deterrence, according to Bakersfield TV station KGET.

“The well-being of the bear was a concern,” Sawrey told The Dodo. “We have lived in this community with bears for many years, so harming the bears is not in our nature. Removing the bear from the classroom safely was the goal.”

Helping the bear exit the classroom proved tricky, though, because “you have to hold the door open for it to stay open,” Salmon told KERO.

Sawrey did just that, and the bear took off past him and into the mountains.

Video shows the bear calmly exploring the room. Ultimately, the only damage was to emergency earthquake kits that contained granola bars.

The slogan of the K-8 school displayed on its website is, appropriately, “Home of the Bears.”

California has an estimated 25,000 to 35,000 black bears, which, like the one seen in Salmon’s classroom, are often actually cinnamon brown in color.

If a black bear comes inside, the general advice is to leave doors open, back away slowly and move to a safe location to allow the bear to escape on its own, then call 911 if assistance is needed.