California homeowner rolls out 'unwelcome' mat for black bear living under his house

ALTADENA, Calif. – A huge black bear that made its den in the crawl space under a Los Angeles area man’s house for more than a month has finally been evicted.

Altadena resident Ken Johnson said the animal began denning beneath his home around Thanksgiving, twisting gas lines and toppling bricks as he came and went. Surveillance video showed the bear easily tearing away screening and other obstacles and squeezing through a small opening.

Johnson said in a phone interview Friday that he first asked state wildlife officials for help, but the air horns and paintball guns they deployed didn't work. So he turned to BEAR League, a California-based nonprofit that bills itself as specializing in “living in harmony with bears.”

The bear was out within about 20 minutes after members from the group arrived, Johnson said.

In a social media post on Thursday, the group said that one of its most experienced responders crawled beneath the home and got behind the bear — which it estimated weighs more than 500 pounds (227 kilograms) — to encourage the animal to leave.

“There’s the relief — it feels like, you know, you had a bunch of dinner guests over and now the party’s over — well it wasn’t a party — but you know they’re gone and now you’ve got a bunch of dirty dishes and empty glasses to deal with," Johnson said.

The group placed an “unwelcome” mat, which delivers an electric shock, at the opening. Video footage showed the bear returning to the house, stepping on the mat and then running away.

Dave Fleishman, a BEAR League spokesperson who helped evict the animal, said it was one of the largest black bears he has seen.

“He's in my top three,” Fleishman said.

“He’s an old soul ... I think he just wanted a quiet place for the winter,” he added. “But he’d done a tremendous amount of damage to Ken’s house. And so, you don’t want Ken’s house to burn down or the rest of Altadena to burn down because of a ruptured gas line.”

Fleishman said the team was able to move the bear quickly because the house has two crawl spaces, making access easier. He called it a “standard eviction" the group regularly handles, particularly in the Lake Tahoe area.

Johnson described having the bear around as “unsettling.” Since the eviction, the bear came back at least once before moving on, he said. “It’s just the constant tension of if he if he decides to come out I have to be ready,” he said.

Johnson said the animal caused thousands of dollars in damage, which has been particularly tough to deal with because he lost his job after last year's Eaton wildfire. The bear shredded ductwork under the house and twisted natural gas piping, Johnson said. He's set up a GoFundMe page seeking to repair the damage and make his house livable again.