A hungry polar bear broke into a store room and helped itself to a selection of chocolate and wine, a shocked hotel owner in Norway has revealed.
Malin Stark was startled by the furry white beast when she went to check supplies at the Isfjord Radio Adventure Hotel on the island of Spitsbergen.
The huge polar bear made a run for it when a chopper circled overhead.
The polar bear was discovered by hotel staff in the early morning after feasting on supplies
It was around 7am on Sunday morning when Malin spotted the bear’s head poking out of a window in front of her.
‘I was on my way to breakfast shift when I saw the garage door to the hotel had been completely destroyed,’ she said.
‘I saw two big muddy paw prints and knew it was a polar bear.
‘I got really annoyed because we just replaced that garage door after it was also demolished by a polar bear in February.
Malin quickly called the authorities when the male bear was having difficulty squeezing out of the window.
Once a helicopter arrived it was spooked enough for the fearsome predator to haul himself free.
It had gained access through a garage door which it destroyed and its paw marks were found
It had raided the storage room for food and drinks, creating a mess on its hunt
The bear sprinted off into the wilderness leaving Malin to check on the damage, which consisted of a lot of eaten dark chocolate and smashed wine bottles.
‘He had succeeded in getting into the drink storage and then managed to close the door behind him blocking his only exit,’ she said.
‘The bear was obviously stressed and hot (they can easily overheat) and had his head out the window panting.
‘When it got out it made a run for the coast and got straight into the water and started swimming away.’
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently inhabited island of Svalbard, a large archipelago in the Arctic Ocean above Norway.
Locals share the island with hundreds of polar bears. Food is scarce this time of year and they go scavenging.
Malin said the guests had been woken by the commotion and watched safely from the bathroom windows on the first and second floors.