{"id":324719,"date":"2025-12-01T20:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T20:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/324719\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T20:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T20:35:09","slug":"california-man-stunned-as-surveillance-cameras-confirm-500-pound-black-bear-moved-into-his-homes-crawlspace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/324719\/","title":{"rendered":"California man stunned as surveillance cameras confirm 500 pound black bear moved into his home\u2019s crawlspace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/california\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">California<\/a> man was alarmed to find that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/bear-nevada-home-attack-hibernate-b2870627.html\" title=\"Hungry bear getting ready to hibernate broke into Nevada home and attacked elderly couple inside\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cause of disturbances and damage around his property<\/a> was an enormous black <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/bear\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bear<\/a> that had moved into the crawl space beneath his home.<\/p>\n<p>Ken Johnson set up surveillance cameras near the entry to the space under the house, which later captured the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/missing-man-cause-animal-bear-lion-b2868220.html\" title=\"Missing elderly man dragged away by \u2018bear or mountain lion\u2019 after medical emergency, authorities say in grim update\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">500-pound animal sneaking in and out every day<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was really big. I\u2019ve seen him before, but he was going through the trash and then the next morning he\u2019s coming out from underneath my house,\u201d Johnson <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ktla.com\/news\/local-news\/bear-takes-up-residence-under-altadena-home-startles-homeowner\/\">told KTLA<\/a> at his Altadena residence.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said he had installed the camera after noticing that trash had been scattered over the ground and pieces of brick knocked off a wall.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/bear\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bear<\/a> appears to have since taken up residency, with Johnson adding that he comes in and out from underneath him home \u201clike he owns the place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-01-at-10-59-05-AM.png\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A California man was alarmed to find that the cause of disturbances and damage around his property was an enormous black bear that had moved into the crawl space beneath his home\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>A California man was alarmed to find that the cause of disturbances and damage around his property was an enormous black bear that had moved into the crawl space beneath his home (Ken Johnson\/ KTLA)<\/p>\n<p>However, despite Johnson light-heartedly referring to the bear as a \u201ctenant,\u201d he admits there have been times that have a little too close for comfort.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, while going outside to change the camera batteries he encountered the bear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just glanced at the hole from standing up and [heard] a growl and a hiss, and I just ran,\u201d he told KTLA, adding that it was unsettling to know that such a large animal was living just feet below him.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-01-at-10-58-29-AM.png\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Ken Johnson said that he had noticed the 500-pound animal around his property before, but did not know that it had moved in\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>Ken Johnson said that he had noticed the 500-pound animal around his property before, but did not know that it had moved in (Ken Johnson\/ KTLA)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt looks like a monster because the eyes are close together and then this big, wide head, and I wasn\u2019t even sure what I was looking at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Law enforcement has advised Johnson that staying indoors would help keep him safe. He added that calls to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/california\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">California<\/a> Fish and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/wildlife\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wildlife<\/a> to help remove the bear went unanswered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t need a bear for Christmas. I want to get rid of the bear for Christmas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Independent has contacted California Fish and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/wildlife\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wildlife<\/a> for comment regarding Johnson\u2019s situation with the unwelcome tenant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-324719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}