by Jason Moore - Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Anchorage, Alaska - By now you’ve likely seen the dramatic entrance by a moose into the emergency room at Alaska Regional Hospital. The security camera footage also appeared on the “Today Show” this morning.

It turns out that wasn’t the only critter intrusion in Anchorage yesterday. Another unwelcome visitor made a house call in Stuckagain Heights.

This tranquil neighborhood along Atelier Drive welcomes visitors. But not the kind that visited 21-year-old Tyler Saupe’s home, a discovery he made after work yesterday.

“I came up and kind of looked in the kitchen and saw some crumbs and stuff,” he said. “And y’know this is like the first place you see and there’s just a pile.”

A big pile of bear scat right on the hardwood floor. Thinking the bruin could still be in the house, Saupe ran to his room.

“So I grabbed this, which probably isn’t the best for a bear.”

In hindsight, Saupe realizes seeking out a bear with a short sword probably wasn’t a great idea. Fortunately, the bear had already left.

As he searched the house, he began tracing the bear’s movements.

“I found this and saw the window was closed and figured it must have been an escape attempt to get back out.”

The bear ripped up the screen, tipped over a lamp and a flower pot. In the den, it ripped open another screen and pierced a hole in a sofa. In the kitchen, loaves of bread and bagel chips were scattered on the floor and there were scratches on the toaster. It turns out that the bear came in through a dining room window.

“You can see his back paw and there’s another little paw print right there,” Saupe said, pointing out some marks on the wall below the window.

This happened the same day Alaska Regional Hospital caught a moose on its security camera ambling into the emergency room.

Dr. Don Hudson was in the nurses’ lounge when it came in, giving him an opportunity to snap a one-in-a-million photo of the moose at the triage desk.

The ungulate standing right in front of the patient check-in sign. Unable to ring the buzzer for service, it ambled out — to the amazement of those nearby.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing, quite frankly,” Dr. Hudson laughed. “We live in their world. They live here instead of us, and so I think it’s wonderful. Where else in the world could you go and get that sort of exposure?”

Just part of the wildlife scene in Anchorage.

But the Saupes may reconsider their framed cross-stitch motto at the front door, which says “this is our house, the door opens wide and welcomes you to all inside.”

Because you really never know what the visitor may leave behind.

The Saupes say the black bear returned to their yard later in the evening, and they say they scared if off back into the woods.