When Ken Johnson noticed items around his home knocked over and damaged, he set up cameras. For months, he waited for answers.
Then, last week, an uninvited guest emerged from under his Altadena, California, home: a large bear that has set up residence in his crawl space.
Ever since, he has heard “all kinds of clunking and booming” from under the floorboards, he told the Associated Press. The bear even rummages through his trash cans.
In video footage, the massive bear squeezes into the entryway of the crawl space, then looks around as it climbs out. On another occasion, it saunters down the driveway.
Johnson, 63, told KTLA that the bear maneuvers in and out of the crawl space “like it owns the place” and called the animal “a monster,” with eyes that are close together and a “big, wide head.”
He now wants California wildlife officials to help evict his unwanted tenant, telling KTLA: “I don’t need a bear for Christmas. I want to get rid of the bear for Christmas,” Johnson said. The California Fish and Wildlife Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Tuesday.
If he doesn’t receive help from officials, Johnson said, he may resort to plan B: food.
“The plan is, I’m going to buy a bunch of dinner rolls and line them down the street up to the hole and have some sandbags ready,” Johnson told the AP. “When he comes down the street to get the dinner rolls, throw sandbags in there and cover it with pepper spray, and just hope he stays away.”
Altadena, an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County, was ravaged by wildfires in January. The flames leveled entire neighborhoods in the region, displacing tens of thousands of people. At least 30 died, though scientists say the fires may have killed hundreds more than official records show.
Flames from the Eaton Fire — one of the largest of the blazes — destroyed an estimated 7,000 structures in Altadena, including homes and cherished local businesses, and devastated natural environments, killing animals and disrupting fragile ecosystems that they depend on. Many residents of Altadena say they love the area’s wildlife and the suburb’s proximity to the hills.
Johnson’s bear sighting was not the first in Altadena, or since the fires.
In January, a resident who was evacuated from the inferno returned home to find a large male bear had moved into the crawl space beneath their home. On Facebook, California wildlife officials said they worked for 24 hours alongside an environmental scientist to remove the 525-pound adult bear. Authorities urged residents to bear-proof crawl spaces by sealing them.
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