Actually, a BIG bear story.
A 525-Pound Bear Found a Crawl Space That Was Jussst Right
An Altadena, Calif., resident came home after being displaced by the Eaton fire to find a large black bear still hanging out underneath his property.
By Sopan Deb, The New York Times, Feb. 4, 2025
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Last week, a homeowner in Altadena, Calif., who had been displaced by the Eaton fire returned to find a 525-pound bear still nestled in a crawl space underneath his house. The bear — let’s not call him Goldilocks because that’s just too easy — had arrived before the fires, and the destructive conditions had delayed efforts to remove him…
Bears often get into crawl spaces in the area, and this particular bear had been spotted by neighbors in recent months…
Kevin Howells, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, lured the bear out of the crawl space with a feast from a grocery store down the street: rotisserie chicken, sardines with tomato sauce and peanut-butter-smeared apples, among other treats. Within minutes, the bear emerged from the space and into the box-shaped trap, which Mr. Howells and a team of seven other people worked to load onto a truck. The bear was taken to Angeles National Forest, sedated and fitted with a GPS collar before eventually being released… [end quote]
The neighbors had been feeding the bear and even named it (Berry, Barry or Beary). Black bears generally pose no threat to humans and are mostly food motivated. They are among the wild species that are able to live in human habitats. But…there’s a big difference between a 40 pound coyote and a 525 bear on your property. These are wild animals. A coyote bit my dog and I wouldn’t want to take a chance with my border collie/ German Shepherd if a bear came by.
Wendy (I’ve never had a bear or cougar on my property but they do come into our area)