{"id":184194,"date":"2025-12-10T04:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T04:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/184194\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T04:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T04:35:07","slug":"we-call-him-unbearable-california-homeowner-laments-uninvited-beast-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/184194\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We call him … unbearable\u2019: California homeowner laments uninvited beast | Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

A hefty 550lb black bear has laid claim to the crawl space under an Altadena home, marking the latest in a series of bear incursions into the Los Angeles<\/a> community.<\/p>\n

On 25 November, homeowner Ken Johnson noticed the bear leaving the crawl space and later contacted California\u2019s department of fish and wildlife for assistance removing it from below his home. Despite sweet-scented lures and ammonia-towels, the bear has remained in place for more than two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a nuisance and he\u2019s living under my house rent-free,\u201d Johnson told the Orange County Register<\/a>. \u201cWe call him \u2026 unbearable, but he\u2019s so cute. Once he gets out, we\u2019ll call him bearable, but for now it\u2019s unbearable.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Eaton wildfire tore through the Angeles national forest and scorched parts of Altadena in January, wildlife \u2013 including several bears \u2013 sought shelter in the community. In the weeks following the fire, at least two 500-plus-pound black bears<\/a> sought refuge in homes evacuated during the wildfire.<\/p>\n

Ken Johnson stands outside his house on 1 December, with trash scattered across the driveway, after a bear took refuge in his crawl space in Altadena, California. Photograph: Jae C Hong\/AP<\/p>\n

The bear occupying Johnson\u2019s crawl space, which is tagged number 2120 by the California department of fish and wildlife, had previously taken up residence in an Altadena home, said Cort Klopping, a fish and wildlife spokesperson, though officials were able to eventually relocate him to a site about 10 miles (16km) away. It\u2019s unclear whether 2120 was one of the two bears seen in the weeks after the fire.<\/p>\n

This time around, however, fish and wildife biologists have struggled to lure bear 2120 out of its hiding place below Johnson\u2019s home. Biologists have set up a camera for remote monitoring, and set out \u201clure\u201d, a concentrated chemical compound that gives off the potent aroma of caramel and cherries, to try to draw the bear out, Klopping said. They\u2019re hoping to lure the bear to a cart, via which he can be transported to a safe location.<\/p>\n

Black bears \u2013 the only species of bear living in California \u2013 are largely non-confrontational, having killed only one person in recorded history. The population is estimated to be between 49,000 and 71,000<\/a>, with 50% living in the north coast and Cascade regions, and 40% in the Sierra Nevada.<\/p>\n

But there are thriving communities in other areas, including in Los Angeles county. Reports of bear sightings are increasingly common<\/a> in LA\u2019s foothill communities.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Johnson says, having a bear living below his feet has proved stressful. A 63-year-old photographer and graphic designer, Johnson told local outlets<\/a> that he\u2019s heard growls during the night and worries the bear could be causing unseen damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hefty 550lb black bear has laid claim to the crawl space under an Altadena home, marking the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-184194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}