An Altadena neighborhood thought its bear nightmare was finally over. Turns out, it was just relocating.
Just days after a massive bear was removed from one California home following a weeks-long standoff, residents are once again on edge after a new homeowner discovered a huge bear living beneath their house — less than half a mile away.
The latest footage, shared with KTLA, shows a homeowner cautiously crawling into his crawl space with a flashlight, only to reveal a full-grown bear stretched out underneath his home like it owns the place. The man believes the animal had been living there for several days before he realized what was going on.
The unsettling discovery comes just weeks after a notorious 500-plus-pound bear was finally removed from another home in Altadena, where it had been squatting for more than a month and causing extensive damage.
It’s still unclear if this is the same bear — but neighbors say the timing feels more than suspicious.
“They need to close up the crawl space,” resident Deborah Wilson said, laughing nervously during an on-camera interview. “What are you gonna do? Grab the bear and tell him to get out? They’re gigantic. They’re very strong.”
Wilson said her family immediately sealed their crawl space after hearing about the new sighting. While wildlife sightings aren’t unusual in the area, residents say this feels different.
“If the bear doesn’t get you, something will,” she added. “So you better close up.”
The neighborhood has already been traumatized by the ordeal involving homeowner Kenneth Johnson, who spent 37 days unknowingly living above a 550-pound bear. Frustrated by repeated delays, Johnson even threatened to sue the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, accusing officials of dragging their feet.
At one point, Johnson shut off his gas service just days before Christmas, worried the bear would rip through the lines under his house. Wildlife officials attempted to trap the animal in mid-December — but accidentally captured the wrong bear instead, releasing it back into nearby habitat.
“I thought there was no way a bear could fit under there,” Johnson previously said. “This thing is so big its stomach touches the ground.”
After weeks of damage to heating ducts and growing fear, the nonprofit BEAR League finally removed the bear on January 6.
Now, with new footage surfacing and another homeowner facing the same terrifying reality, neighbors are wondering whether the bear problem has actually been solved — or if Altadena has become the hottest new real estate market for runaway bears.
