ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) — The bear that’s been living underneath an Altadena home for almost two months has been removed.
The bear — now known as Yellow 2120 — made its way into the homeowner’s crawl space under his kitchen around Thanksgiving and had been there ever since.
The homeowner spoke with Eyewitness News and said the bear was spotted Wednesday and was shocked by an electrified doormat used by professionals to capture bears.
The animal roamed around the house for a while only to realize his hibernation spot had been sealed off.
A few days before, a Lake Tahoe nonprofit fired paintballs to get the bear out.
Video shows the 550-pound bear squeeze out of the crawl space as the paintballs fired nearby scared him off.
“I can hear him under there, and it’s really scary when you hear the banging and crushing and scratching and stuff … he’s not happy,” said homeowner Ken Johnson.
The bear’s whereabouts remain unknown as of Thursday afternoon. A wildlife rescue group helped with the bear’s removal.
State wildlife officials tried to get the bear out multiple times, but the animal kept coming back. That’s when a Lake Tahoe nonprofit called The Bear League stepped in.
“I saw that Ken was potentially looking at litigation against California Department of Fish and Wildlife because they kind of left him high and dry and fending for himself with this bear under the house,” said Dave Fleishman with The Bear League.
The group said their team’s experience made a difference, saying they handle similar removals several times a day. The elderly bear, unmoved by typical lures, finally met the right combination of pressure and timing.
“He looked very relieved when we walked up, I’ll say that,” said Fleishman about Johnson. “He looked even more relieved, and I would say even surprised, at how quickly we were able to do it, because literally from the time Scott started crawling under the house to the time the bear was out was less than 10 minutes.”
Meantime, it’s unclear where the bear went.
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