Posted on 01/11/2026 7:14:21 AM PST by Dr. Franklin
The 550-pound bear living under a man’s Los Angeles home for 37 days has finally left the building — after being shot at with paintballs.
Altadena homeowner Ken Johnson has been living with the massive black bear under his home since Nov. 30 when it began squatting in his crawl space. The “unbearable” roommate ruined Christmas for Johnson and had him on edge for weeks.
The bear eviction finally happened Tuesday after Johnson contacted “The Bear League” — a group from Lake Tahoe that specializes in bear removal emergencies.
“We heard about Ken, we felt bad for him and flew down and got the bear out,” said Ann Bryant, the founder and executive director.
The crew jumped into action, firing paintballs into the crawl space until the bruin had enough — retreating from its den.
“The bear was gone in 20 minutes,” Bryant said.
The paintballs are filled with vegetable oil and sometimes “they hit the bear in the rump,” added Bryant — who said her organization does between six and eight bear extractions a day.
Johnson told The Post he quickly covered the crawl space with two layers of plywood and sandbags to prevent the bear from ever coming back. The Bear League also placed an “electric mat” in front of the crawlspace designed to give a small shock if stepped on.
The shock mat proved to be handy when the bear returned Wednesday but got zapped.
“He came back, and I was like, ‘oh my gosh.’ He hit the mat and scurried away into darkness,” Johnson said.
The Bear League website says the group offers around-the-clock support, noting its goal is to “educate people about the true nature of these animals.” The league has 2,500 members and 220 volunteers, Bryant said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“Just because the Bear broke into the home without permission he just had every right to live there as the people who paid for the place.”
According to California law, you have a point. Nowhere in the law does it state that the present occupants have to be human. So you’d need to take the bear to court, with the bear likely represented by a 19th Amendment type that hates American men, but is turned on by terrorist similar types.
“Johnson eventually threatened to sue the CDFW after he claimed the agency abandoned efforts to get rid of the animal.”
Tough to do. Their contract had anti-libel claws.
“It doesn’t paint a pretty picture.”
Bears repeating.
What happened to the old 45-70 remedy?
Solve the problem for about $1.20, a rope and a come along.
HOLD THE PRESS.
It was not a bear, just an obese homeless person from San Francisco.( sarc.)
California would have arrested him because they don’t believe you have the right to bear arms
I read the bear had bruined the pipes under the house.
What! No link?
But, the poor bear. This is why I'm always supporting the right to arm bears.
I would not have thought that bringing a paintball gun to a bear fight was a good idea.
“.ne fat bear. He just wants an after-dinner nap.
“I wondered why the California Department of Wildlife or whatever it’s called didn’t just tranquilize the bear and drag it out.”
No way that could be done.
“First of all, someone needed to have the guts to get into that crawl space and harass the bear to leave. “
I don’t think anyone went into the crawl space.
Some of it is just plain ignorance. For our ornithology research area, we have been at war with Common Teasel as it fragments habitat for ground-nesting birds and displaces native plant species. Since the late 10's over 70,000 teasel plants have been cut or pulled by hand - it's the only surefire method of control.
How did it spread so much? Improper late season mowing practices. Even cleaning off the top and underside of the mowing deck once a day would help.
Additionally, research by a university on pollinator species had a control area where no Teasel cutting could take place over 5 years. The result was an some of the most highly dense colonies of Common Teasel we've ever cut. That's been nipped in the bud as post-research activities must now include remediation of any non-native species in the control and other areas used for research. Sort of common sense.
Making progress as had substantially less late season bolters last summer, and see far fewer teasel in the basal rosette stage this winter than in years past.
I stand corrected
“This is a nuisance bear that will just move on and be a problem to another home owner. “
He was previously removed from another home and relocated ten miles from there.
“Bears hate this one weird trick.”
I was just thinking that. :)
“Is it illegal to just shoot and kill it?”
Why? Just to kill it?
Don't tell me they couldn't have shot a dart to put the monster to sleep...or something in some food....
I'd sue like crazy...for "endangering" and negligence.
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