Exclusive | A 550-pound bear has been living under my house — and it doesn’t want to leave
It’s been a beary rough stretch for this California homeowner.
Sleeping in the dark, noticing odd odors, dealing with extensive damage, and hearing strange noises are all part of life now that a 550‑pound bear lives under his roof.
“It’s a lot more stressful than I thought,” Ken Johnson told The Post Thursday, eleven days after the hefty brown animal settled in a crawl space beneath his Altadena home.
The prowler, called “Unbearable” by friends, hasn’t moved on since.
Ken has shared that he loves wildlife, so it’s been “tough to hear” the bear seemingly struggling to escape.
Instead of a quiet evening at the kitchen table, he’s continually interrupted by pawing sounds from the house’s underside.
At night, “I wake up, toss and turn, and then I think I hear something—maybe he’s under my bed? I didn’t get much sleep.”
He’s worried about the damage the bear’s movements are causing inside the home, knowing it could cost him to repair the foundations.
“I’m waiting for the other paw to drop,” he said, hoping the beast will make it outside on its own.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has set up a “Cambrian Box Trap” filled with fried and rotisserie chicken, apples, oranges, shrimp, sardines, and peanut butter to entice the animal.
California Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Cort Klopping told The Post that the trap is highly effective, yet the concoction is an odor assault for Ken.
“It smells really bad. All good food, but it’s not something you’d want to put together; it makes me nauseous; it’s so strong,” he complained.
Alongside the bear, his cat Boo has been stalking the new housemate, sniffing through vents, and trying to figure out what’s going on.
Once the news broke, Johnson was thrust into a media circus—camera crews, helicopters, and curious onlookers all vying for a glimpse of the under‑roof visitor.
That attention seems to have frightened the bear, and Johnson wants a quiet life again, hoping the animal will leave if people stop harassing it.
After a year marked by smoke damage from the Altadena fires and lost clients for his photography business, he simply craves normalcy.
“So it was interesting having him here but nothing seems to work,” he concluded.
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