A woman in Alaska says she "jumped up and screamed" after she was attacked by a bear while using the toilet.

Shannon Stevens sustained a puncture wound while using a remote outhouse toilet at Chilkat Lake last weekend. Ms Stevens says the wound was caused by either a bite or a swipe from the animal's claw.

She was spending the weekend in a yurt with her brother Erik and his girlfriend when the incident occurred. Earlier in the evening they had cooked sausages on an open firepit. "I got out there and sat down on the toilet and immediately something bit my butt as I sat down," she told the Associated Press news agency.

She screamed for her brother who came out with a head torch to help her. After she pointed him to the toilet, Erik saw "right there at the level of the toilet seat was a cinnamon-coloured bear face," he said.

They ran from the outhouse and into the yurt, opting to stay inside until it got light. The following morning, they noticed bear prints by the firepit and the outhouse.

Ms Stevens told the Anchorage Daily News that she will practice a "look before you sit" policy in the future.

That would scare the sh!t out of her alright.

......

that would scare the sh!t out of her alright.

I'm a bit surprised that the bear would be in the bathroom. Wouldn't it have been too large for the woman and the bear to have been in there at the same time?