A 550-pound bear that had been living under a California man’s home for more than a month finally got away, after a strange strategy ended a long string of failed removal attempts by state officials.
The male black bear was removed from the crawl space Tuesday after bear removal experts from Tahoe traveled to the Altadena home. One team member crawled inside and fired paintballs filled with vegetable oil, the wildlife organization BEAR League told Fox News Digital on Thursday.
According to surveillance video, the large bear has been crawling in and out of a small crawl space under Ken Johnson’s home since late November. Johnson said the animal caused extensive damage to his home, costing tens of thousands of dollars. It also created a dangerous, unlivable situation involving structural and gas line issues.
“Right after I survived the Eaton fire, I lost my job, and shortly after that the bear started dripping into the structure of my house,” Johnson said on the GoFundMe page. “I have video footage of him twisting the gas pipes, which created an extremely dangerous situation and forced me to shut off my utilities just to stay safe.”
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The bear’s eviction finally happened after Johnson contacted the BEAR League, an organization that specializes in bear removal emergencies in Lake Tahoe, located seven hours north of Altadena.
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BEAR League told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the organization was “pleased to help Ken Johnson with this bear.”
“A Southern California homeowner had a large male bear living under his home for over a month before reaching out to the BEAR League for help,” the organization added in a Facebook post on Thursday.
BEAR League told Fox News Digital that the league used paintballs filled with vegetable oil that hit the bear in the rear. The wildlife rescue group reportedly finished the job in less than 20 minutes.
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“After previous removal attempts by state wildlife officials were unsuccessful, BEAR League first responders Scott and Dave traveled to the Los Angeles area to assist,” the organization added. “Scott, one of our most experienced responders, crawled under the house—fully aware the bear was still there—to get behind it and coax it out of the crawl space opening.”
To prevent the bear from re-entering the crawl space, the organization said it “borrowed unwanted electric rugs to give the homeowner time to make repairs and secure the crawl space to avoid another visit.”
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According to social media footage posted by the organization, the mat worked exactly as designed, and the bear emerged when it returned.
BEAR League emphasized that residents should be careful to have open spaces for crawling, noting that their proper securing helps people safely coexist with wild animals.
“We remind those who live in bear country that an unsafe crawl space is an open invitation to a winter visitor like this bear,” the league told Fox News Digital. “BEAR League responds several times a day this time of year to evict bears from under homes in the Lake Tahoe region, and we’ve done this for 30 years at no cost to the homeowner. We work hard to educate people who share space with bears that if humans take some very simple steps, they can live in harmony with bears.”
Tuesday’s success ended a long string of failed eviction attempts by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which had been trying to remove the bear for more than a month. At one point, a trap even caught the wrong bear. Efforts that included bait, noisemakers and even a trap that caught the wrong bear all failed.
Original article source: 550-pound bear finally evicted from California home after strange strategy ends month-long ordeal