Black Bear Walks The Halls of Bozeman High School

Staff and students at Bozeman High School got a surprise visitor roaming the halls of the school on Wednesday morning – a bear.

Bozeman Schools Superintendent Rob Watson said members of the booster club were meeting at the high school around 7:30 a.m. in the south cafeteria when a bear was spotted in the football field.

The bear then made its way to the interior of a courtyard.

“He was just kind of sniffing around the edge of the building,” Watson said.

The bear then walked into the school through a garage door on the back of the building and started walking down “long hall” inside the high school.

A Gallatin County sheriff’s deputy who is in the booster club along with others kept an eye on the bear, who stayed in the school a few minutes before walking out of a door, running across Mandeville Creek, then across 11th Avenue toward Durston Road.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokeswoman Andrea Jones said the bear moved away from the area and will be monitored if it returns.

When asked if this has ever happened in the school, Watson laughed and responded, “Not that I’m aware of.”

“I’m sure we’ve had animals in the school before, but I’m not aware of a bear,” Watson said.

Whitney Bermes can be reached at wbermes@dailychronicle.com or 582-2648. Follow her on Twitter at @wabermes.