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A man in California has spent over a month trying (and failing) to deal with a bear that has set up shop under his home. Now, he’s thinking about taking the state to court after wildlife officials allegedly abandoned its efforts to help him solve a problem that’s turned his life into a living nightmare.
Plenty of homeowners will have to deal with a wild animal that managed to infiltrate their residence at some point in time. That tends to be a fairly straightforward process when the critter in question is something like a squirrel or raccoon, but the situation becomes a bit more complex when you’re talking about a bear that weighs over 500 pounds.
That’s the scenario a California resident named Kenneth Johnson has been dealing with since the end of November, which is when he first captured footage of a black bear that decided to make a den for itself in the crawlspace under his home in Altadena.
He was subsequently subjected to a comedy of errors that is no longer a laughing matter based on the impact it’s had on his life, and he says he’s thinking about filing a lawsuit against the state for failing to help him take care of the problem.
A California man with a bear living under his house may sue the state after it allegedly stopped trying to capture the animal
Johnson says he first realized the bear had invaded his home shortly before Thanksgiving, and he contacted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in the hopes they would be more equipped to deal with the issue than he was.
According to The Los Angeles Times, the agency had a history with the tagged animal known as ” Yellow 2120,” the 550-pound beast they had previously trapped in Altadena in 2024 and relocated around 10 miles away before it made its grand return.
A metal trap was set up outside Johnson’s home on December 9th, and the bear resisted scented bait and noisemakers designed to lure it out before it was seemingly captured around a week later. However, he was informed a different bear had wandered into the cage, and his nemesis continued to evade capture.
Johnson told KTLA the department was eventually ordered to stand down and says he is now considering a lawsuit to force them to finish the job.
He cited the “negligence and emotional distress” he’s been forced to endure, saying he can routinely hear the bear causing damage in the crawlspace and noting he no longer has hot water after spotting a damaged pipe that forced him to shut off his gas right before Christmas.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a statement countering his claim, saying:
“We remain committed to helping this homeowner and have never indicated otherwise.
CDFW has and will continue to engage with the homeowner to advise on hazing methodologies and the critical need to close the crawlspace, monitor cameras and offer support to help ensure the bear leaves and finds more suitable habitat.”
Here’s to hoping this gets resolved sooner rather than later.