The Unwelcome mat
A huge black bear that made its den in the crawl space under a Los Angeles area man’s house for more than a month has finally been evicted. Altadena resident Ken Johnson said the animal began denning beneath his home around Thanksgiving, twisting gas lines and toppling bricks as he came and went. Surveillance video showed the bear easily tearing away screening and other obstacles and squeezing through a small opening. Johnson said in a phone interview Friday that he first asked state wildlife officials for help, but the air horns and paintball guns they deployed didn’t work. So he turned to BEAR League, a California-based nonprofit that bills itself as specializing in “living in harmony with bears.”
The bear was out within about 20 minutes after members from the group arrived, Johnson said. In a social media post on Thursday, the group said that one of its most experienced responders crawled beneath the home and got behind the bear — which it estimated weighs more than 500 pounds— to encourage the animal to leave. “There’s the relief — it feels like, you know, you had a bunch of dinner guests over and now the party’s over — well it wasn’t a party — but you know they’re gone and now you’ve got a bunch of dirty dishes and empty glasses to deal with,” Ken said. The team was able to move the bear quickly because the house has two crawl spaces, making access easier. He called it a “standard eviction” the group regularly handles, particularly in the Lake Tahoe area.
The group placed an “unwelcome” mat, which delivers an electric shock, at the opening. Dave Fleishman, a BEAR League spokesperson who helped evict the animal, said it was one of the largest black bears he has seen. “He’s in my top three,” Fleishman said. “He’s an old soul … I think he just wanted a quiet place for the winter,” he added. “But he’d done a tremendous amount of damage to Ken’s house. And so, you don’t want Ken’s house to burn down or the rest of Altadena to burn down because of a ruptured gas line.” Johnson said the animal caused thousands of dollars in damage, which has been particularly tough to deal with because he lost his job after last year’s Eaton wildfire. The bear shredded ductwork under the house and twisted natural gas piping, Johnson said. He’s set up a GoFundMe page seeking to repair the damage and make his house livable again.
Jokes Bearly evicted
When Pablo Picasso was a young struggling artist, he was several months behind in the rent.
The landlord came by and told him that if he didn’t come up with the money he would be evicted on Tuesday.
Picasso exclaimed, “Before you kick me out, just think, years from now people will look at this building and say the great Picasso lived there.”
The landlord looked at him blankly and said, “And if you don’t come up with the money they can start doing it Tuesday.”
The tenants said the house was haunted.
You’d think I would’ve noticed after 200 years.
I installed a skylight in my apartment…. The people who live above me are furious!
January 12th Birthdays
1955 – Kirstie Alley, 1985 – Issa Rey, 1984 – Jessie Graff, 1968 – Racheal Harris
1951 – Rush Limbaugh, 1930 – Tim Horton, 1957 – John Lasseter, 1964 – Jeff Bezos