550-pound bear settles in beneath an Altadena home, thwarting creative efforts to move him out

A massive bear has entrenched himself for several days beneath an Altadena home, showing no intention of moving out amid persistent efforts to displace him and a throng of curious local residents looking to catch a glimpse of the 550-pound beast.

Despite myriad efforts by homeowner Ken Johnson and California Fish and Wildlife personnel, the huge male bear remains under Johnson’s home, so far largely unfettered by radios blasting, ammonia and caramel and cherry scented-lures placed outside the home.

“He’s a nuisance and he’s living under my house rent-free,” Johnson said. “We call him… unbearable, but he’s so cute. Once he gets out, we’ll call him bearable, but for now it’s unbearable.”

Johnson first spotted the bear on a camera he installed to check on his cat and keep track of wildlife in the area. In June, he noticed the entrance to his crawl space was damaged, but it was not top of mind for him until Nov. 25, when he checked his footage and saw the massive bear leaving the crawl space.

Nearly two weeks after Johnson, 63, first spotted him, the creature, tagged number 2120, is still holed up the crawl space, returning day after day, now approaching the record he had previously set under another neighbor’s house, where Johnson said a bear neighbors that’s believed to be the same one stayed underneath another property for 18 days.

Since the bear’s arrival, Johnson, who is a photographer and graphic designer, has been woken up by growls and thumps in the night and has become worried about what damage the bear may be inflicting under his house, and what may happen with so many people gathered outside his home, which has become the case since the public learned of the bear.

“It’s been getting more and more stressful,” said Johnson of the bear’s residency under his home, an experience that has been “dreadful.”

California Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel visited Johnson’s home last week, a response he had been eagerly awaiting. This particular bear had been relocated from the Altadena area he is currently in to a “more suitable” spot about 10 miles away within the past year, according to the department, but has since returned and situated himself in the crawl space under Johnson’s house.

“I heard this really nasty hissing, growly, dragon sound coming from underneath the house right inside the opening so that terrified me. I ran into the house, called the sheriff, they gave me the fish and wildlife number and I called, but it said we’re out for the holidays call back in normal operating hours,” Johnson said.

Johnson filled out a form and indicated the bear was under his home. Fish and Wildlife biologists were able to visit his home and set up cameras and place sweet scented lures to try and coax the bear out of the crawl space.

As he waited for professionals, Johnson tried a few DIY bear-repelling tactics, blasting radios loudly, flooding the vents with air from a blower and tossing ammonia drenched towels into the crawl space to drive the animal away from his home. The bear has stayed put, with the noise and air scaring Johnson’s cat, Boo. Another neighbor in Johnson’s east Altadena area that dealt with a bear in their crawl space was able to board it up when the bear left, which he plans to do if the creature leaves his property for long enough.

The bear has been coming and going at times, but largely staying near Johnson’s home. He does not want to go near the crawl space if the behemoth bear is close by.

Fish and Wildlife biologists have not seen movement on the additional cameras they set up near the access point to the crawl space, Kort Klopping, a Fish and Wildlife spokesperson said.

The increased attention on Johnson’s home, which is near Eaton Canyon, from the media and the public intrigued by the bear, may be part of why the bear is staying put.

“The current thinking is that the bear is still very stressed from all the activity around the home and afraid to come out. We’re continuing to closely monitor via the camera that our crew set up last week and are in contact with the homeowner. The current strategy is to monitor to see if the bear will come out to inspect the ‘lure’ (highly saturated chemical compound that releases the potent aroma of caramel and cherries) that our team left there the last time they visited the site,” Klopping said.

However, the commotion around the property may be an advantage when the bear does decide to leave, as Fish and Wildlife biologists “believe that the stress of the activity around the home will act as a deterrent from the bear wanting to go back into the crawlspace once it does come out,” Klopping said.

Growing up in Altadena, Johnson was no stranger to wildlife, but he hadn’t seen bears in the area until around 2017. Now having a bear underneath his house, under his kitchen floorboards as he walks around, is far closer than he ever imagined.

He hopes that the animal will make an exit soon, so he can return to a more peaceful existence.

“He (the bear) looks cute, you know, he’s adorable as a big, giant teddy bear. But when you see the footage of the media, when I got close to the hole and he pushed his nose out and breathed and stomped his foot, it’s terrifying,” Johnson said.