The 550-pound nuisance brown bear has finally been chased out from under the crawl space of Californians Ken and Karen Johnson’s home. Very soon before Thanksgiving that bear had been hibernating there for more than a month already. The bear’s presence not only made his case unique, it presented Johnson a rare opportunity. It created major obstacles in his day-to-day life, encouraging him to reach out to animal specialists.
The bear initially took up residence under Johnson’s house in late November. Its presence forced Johnson to turn off his gas and refrain from using hot water, significantly impacting his daily routine. “We knew he had to turn off his gas. We knew he couldn’t take a shower, no hot water, and we thought, ‘We gotta help this guy, even though it’s way out of our area,’” said Ann Bryant, executive director of the BEAR League, a California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to human-bear conflict resolution.
So the BEAR League contacted Johnson and volunteered to assist in evicting the bear. It took a lot of organized effort, and two members of the cats’ new organization flew in to help coordinate a smooth operation. Upon arrival, they quickly assessed the situation. “Within about 10 minutes of getting to his house and looking around to get the lay of the land, we had the bear out,” Bryant explained.
The eviction process itself required strategic orchestration and external political support. One of our team members actually had to go under the house to retrieve this bear! After a while, the bear stopped hiding in its den, and the mission team was able to drive it off for good.
And someday soon, his gigantic monster of a bear came out from under the house. I almost dropped the phone and leapt out of bed. It was — it was phenomenal,” Johnson remembered. After departing Johnson’s property, the bear immediately made a beeline for the crawl space of a neighboring home. It had spent time there previously and received a delightful welcome from the homeowner. Then the bear moved into a block where a third home’s owner did not tolerate its presence.
Since the encounter, Johnson has installed numerous precautionary measures to avoid other wildlife entering the school. After a disappointing encounter with a bear this summer, he is installing a bear pad to cover the opening to his crawl space. This action would help prevent future visits by bears and other wildlife.
“Every morning, I look at my outdoor camera, and it’s thankfully empty,” Johnson noted, expressing relief after the bear’s departure. Bryant stressed how these situations have recently become second nature for their team to manage. “We’ve done it so many times. It’s like it’s just part of our lives,” she said.
