Posted on 01/01/2026 4:15:55 PM PST by nickcarraway
A homeowner says living with a bear under his house has pushed him to his breaking point. In an exclusive interview with KTLA’s Jillian Smukler, he revealed plans to sue the California Department of Fish and Wildlife after being told the state will no longer help.
Ken Johnson says the bear moved under his Altadena home just before Thanksgiving — and never left.
“If I kept track of everything I tried, it would be Bear 14, Homeowner 0,” said Johnson, using a sports analogy.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife initially stepped in, setting a trap near the crawl space. But instead of catching the large bear under Johnson’s home, the trap caught a smaller bear — the wrong one.
That bear was hauled away, and the bigger bear stayed put. Biologists later tried again, using air horns to flush the bear out.
Johnson says it looked like it was finally working — until he says they suddenly got a call ordering them to stand down.
“I felt very defeated. I just dropped. Now what? It’s all up to me, and I’m supposed to watch my phone when he comes out in the middle of the night? Or sleep in the kitchen and listen for him every night?” Johnson told KTLA.
He even asked if he could still use bait to lure the bear out. “No, can’t do that,” he said he was told.
Since then, Johnson says he can hear the bear moving around, presumably causing damage.
“I can hear the plastic being shredded underneath, and one of the cameras picked it up just bulldozing through it. It’s a mess under there,” Johnson said.
A video of a broken pipe prompted him to shut off his gas on Christmas Eve, and he hasn’t had any hot water since.
“I’m just exhausted from the whole thing,” he said. “I get my mind off it for a little bit, and then suddenly I get flooded back with, oh that’s right, I can’t take a hot shower. I’ve got to monitor the situation all the time,” Johnson said.
Now, Johnson says he plans to sue, accusing the department of negligence and emotional distress.
“This has gone on long enough, and it’s something that they should deal with. It’s a tagged bear. They’ve dealt with it before. They chose not to euthanize it, and now it’s back and it’s just going to keep on doing this,” Johnson said.
KTLA legal analyst Alison Triessl says the department has a duty to protect homeowners when there’s a public safety threat, and Johnson may have grounds to take this to court.
“This homeowner certainly can prove that this bear is causing damage and is a threat to his safety,” Triessl said.
While she doesn’t know if or how much money Johnson would get from the lawsuit, she believes if he wins, a court order to remove the bear is likely.
“The Department of Fish and Wildlife actually has a 19-page policy when it comes to situations just like this, and over and over it says do all that you can to remedy the situation. But nowhere does it say that they should simply give up and have the homeowner deal with it on their own and wait it out,” Triessl said.
KTLA reached out to the department multiple times regarding Johnson’s claims, but the agency had not responded as of Sunday evening.
I’ve considered ammonia for mice in the garden.
The advantage of ammonia over mothballs is that once the ammonia dissipates, nobody can tell you used it.
Fish & Wildlife must be all DEI hires. Shouldn’t be that big of a problem for people that know what they’re doing.
“But I’m not in CA where bear lives matter”
.
Plus, bears have the 2A...
In PA, Democrats got an ear tag in Butler, PA.
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