Anchorage Daily News

A lodge worker was mauled by a brown bear at the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge in Cooper Landing on Wednesday night, according to the Alaska State Troopers.

The worker, identified as Abi Sisk, 21, of Utah, was finishing a hike, walking back to the lodge around 10:30 p.m. when she crossed paths with the bear, according to Beth Ipsen, trooper spokeswoman.

"She was only about 25 yards from the lodge when a bear came out of the woods and attacked her," Ipsen said.

Moments later, a guest inside the lodge heard what he thought was laughing outside. Then he heard screams.

"When he looked out, the bear was standing on top of her and it had her head in its jaws," Ipsen said.

The man, who is from Alaska, ran outside, hollering at the bear.

"It looked at him and then it ran off into the bushes," Ipsen said.

The woman was able to speak after the attack, but she suffered serious lacerations, according to Ipsen. She is in surgery today in Anchorage. She is in critical condition, according to the Associated Press.

This is the second bear mauling of a seasonal lodge worker in recent memory. In 2005, another 21-year-old seasonal employee was grabbed by a bear and dragged, but she fought furiously and escaped injury.

A call to the manager of the Princess Wilderness Lodge was not immediately returned.

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