An Altadena resident has shared footage of a massive bear living beneath his house, the latest in a string of encounters with a 550-pound animal that has evaded removal for weeks.
At a Glance
- A bear estimated at over 550 pounds has taken up residence under at least two Altadena homes since December
- Wildlife officials captured the wrong bear in mid-December and have struggled to relocate the correct animal
- Neighbors are sealing crawl spaces after one bear stayed 37 days and caused extensive damage
- Why it matters: Residents face safety concerns and costly repairs as wildlife officials work to resolve the situation
The unidentified homeowner told KTLA the bear has been under his house for four to five days. He lives less than half a mile from where the same bear-tagged and previously handled by authorities-lived beneath another residence for six weeks.
Video aired Monday, Jan. 12, shows the man creeping into the tight crawl space and shining a flashlight on the bear, which appears calm but fills nearly the entire area.
Neighbor Deborah Wilson reacted with resigned humor.
“They need to close up the crawl space,” she said, laughing. “What are you gonna do? Grab the bear and tell him to get out? I mean, they’re gigantic, and they’re very strong.”
Wilson and her family have since sealed their own crawl space. She noted that bears and coyotes are common in the foothill community.
“We had a problem. We had some coyotes took residence in a crawl space a few blocks over and had litters for a couple years, and that was their home,” she said. “If the bear doesn’t get you, something will. So you better close up.”
Removal Efforts Stall
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife first tried to trap the bear in mid-December after homeowner Kenneth Johnson reported it had lived under his house for 37 days. Johnson shut off his gas service before Christmas to prevent line damage and set up cameras after noticing the crawl space entrance torn apart.
“When I saw it all torn up, I thought, ‘He must not be under there,’ because there is no way a bear could fit,” Johnson told NBC Los Angeles. He described the animal as so large “its stomach touches the ground” and said it must be “a contortionist” to squeeze beneath the home.
Wildlife officials accidentally trapped a different bear in December and released it nearby. Johnson threatened to sue the department, arguing they had prior knowledge of the tagged bear and chose not to euthanize it.
“This has gone on long enough, and it’s something that they should deal with. It’s a tagged bear. They’ve dealt with it before. They chose not to euthanize it, and now it’s back, and it’s just going to keep on doing this,” Johnson told KTLA.
Breakthrough Removal
On Jan. 6, the nonprofit BEAR League successfully extracted the bear from Johnson’s property after it “caused extensive damage to the home’s heating ducts,” the group posted on Facebook. The operation ended the month-long saga for Johnson, but the animal quickly found a new crawl space less than a mile away.
Wildlife officials have not disclosed the bear’s current location or whether additional trapping efforts are planned. Residents along the foothill streets are advising one another to seal any openings beneath their homes.
Community on Edge
Footage from the latest encounter shows the bear wedged between concrete and wooden beams, its dark fur barely visible in the narrow beam of the homeowner’s flashlight. The man retreated without disturbing the animal.
Altadena’s proximity to the Angeles National Forest makes wildlife sightings routine, but the size and persistence of this bear have heightened concerns. The animal’s weight-more than 550 pounds-exceeds that of an average adult male black bear by roughly 200 pounds, complicating safe removal.
Neighbors say they now check crawl space vents and foundation gaps daily. Wilson summed up the mood: “Close it up or welcome your new roommate.”
Key Takeaways
- A tagged 550-lb bear has moved from one Altadena crawl space to another after a 37-day stay that ended Jan. 6
- One capture attempt caught the wrong bear; officials have not announced a new plan
- Residents are sealing foundations as a precaution against further invasions
