36 beers, what a party animal

WORKERS at a US resort were stunned to find a black bear passed out drunk on their lawn after he guzzled 36 beers in a night of drunken revelry, they said today.

Staff at the Baker Lake Resort, about 130km north-west of the US city of Seattle, discovered the large and furry visitor sound asleep in the campground when they turned up for work, staff member Lisa Broxon told AFP.

“It is very unusual to see a bear just lying there sleeping on the lawn, so the camp host started looking around to find out what had happened,” she said.

“He found that some campers had left out some coolers and that the bear had broken into them and started drinking their beer after opening the cans with his teeth.

“The strange thing is that he appeared to like only Rainer (a local brand) beer, and he tried one can of Busch but didn’t even finish it,” Ms Broxon said of the picky wildlife reveller.

Fish and Wildlife department officers were called to the campground when staff began to worry about how the drunk bear would behave when he woke up.

But the large intruder lumbered off before he could be caught, prompting the wildlife experts to set a trap for him to lure him back the following day. The bait for the trap: more Rainier beer, of course.

The bear was caught and safely relocated to an area well away from humans – and liquor stores – after the incident three weeks ago,MsBroxon said.