A bear who has taken up residence in the crawlspace beneath an Altadena home was a national story Tuesday.
The black bear, who is believed to be engaging in a behavior called “denning,” moved into the crawlspace last week, accessing it through a narrow opening.
Resident Ken Johnson, 63, told reporters he had a camera installed in June after finding damage caused by a then-unknown animal and captured images of the bear last Tuesday.
Johnson says state wildlife officials have been of little help.
“I went to replace the (camera) batteries and this huge growl came from underneath the space and scared me to death,” he told ABC7. “I couldn’t stop shaking. It’s the strangest sound, too. It’s like a roar but it’s got this hiss on it too, like a dragon. I mean, it’s just incredible, and coming out from underneath that space, it just reverberates even more … just horrible.”
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife told Johnson a biologist from San Diego would look into the case.
In the meantime, the quarter-ton bear has become national and even international news, with video circulating of the burly beast squeezing through the narrow crawlspace opening.
Johnson just wants the bear to go back to the woods, parts of which were ravaged by January’s deadly Eaton Fire.
“I thought he’d be long gone by now,” he told ABC7. “It’s unnerving.”