This is real—no tricks, no AI, no joke. For 37 straight days, a giant bear was literally living under a man’s house in Los Angeles, turning his daily life into a nonstop nightmare. Every sound under the floor made his heart race. Every night felt like a risk. Traps didn’t work. Noise didn’t scare it off. The bear refused to move. Then, out of pure desperation, officials tried something so strange it sounded crazy—and somehow, it worked. After more than a month of fear and disbelief, the massive bear finally crawled out and disappeared, all thanks to one bizarre method no one expected to succeed.

by

The 550-pound bear living under a man’s Los Angeles home for 37 days has finally left the building — after being shot at with paintballs.

Altadena homeowner Ken Johnson has been living with the massive black bear under his home since Nov. 30 when it began squatting in his crawl space. The “unbearable” roommate ruined Christmas for Johnson and had him on edge for weeks.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by KTLA 5 News (@ktla5news)

A black bear lies in the crawlspace under a home next to a gas meter.
5 Giant Bear peeks out from the home he has claimed in Altadena since late November.Ken J. Johnson
A large brown bear stands in a paved driveway next to a garage door.
5 Homeowner Ken Johnson first became suspicious after noticing items around his Altadena property knocked over or damaged.Ken J. Johnson

The bear eviction finally happened Tuesday after Johnson contacted “The Bear League” — a group from Lake Tahoe that specializes in bear removal emergencies.

“We heard about Ken, we felt bad for him and flew down and got the bear out,” said Ann Bryant, the founder and executive director.

The crew jumped into action, firing paintballs into the crawl space until the bruin had enough — retreating from its den.

A man with a paintball gun walking past a stone wall near a house.
5 The bear eviction happened Tuesday after Johnson contacted “The Bear League.”Ken J. Johnson

“The bear was gone in 20 minutes,” Bryant said.

The paintballs are filled with vegetable oil and sometimes “they hit the bear in the rump,” added Bryant — who said her organization does between six and eight bear extractions a day.

Johnson told The Post he quickly covered the crawl space with two layers of plywood and sandbags to prevent the bear from ever coming back. The Bear League also placed an “electric mat” in front of the crawlspace designed to give a small shock if stepped on.

The shock mat proved to be handy when the bear returned Wednesday but got zapped.

A man chasing a large black bear with a paintball gun away from a house.
5 Paintballs are filled with vegetable oil and sometimes “they hit the bear in the rump,” said Bryant  — adding her organization does six to eight bear evictions per day.Ken J. Johnson
A bear with paintball splatters on its back, circled in red, walks across a patterned concrete driveway.
5 California Department of Fish and Wildlife had been trying to extract the bear for over a month.Ken J. Johnson

“He came back, and I was like, ‘oh my gosh.’ He hit the mat and scurried away into darkness,” Johnson said.

The Bear League website says the group offers around-the-clock support, noting its goal is to “educate people about the true nature of these animals.” The league has 2,500 members and 220 volunteers, Bryant said.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife had been trying to extract the bear for over a month first with scent spray — then with a bear trap filled with sardines, fried chicken, shrimp, peanut butter and apples.

The trap eventually caught the wrong bear, a beast that had been walking around the neighborhood.

Johnson eventually threatened to sue the CDFW after he claimed the agency abandoned efforts to get rid of the animal.

The CDFW told a beary different story.

“Despite very limited staff, CDFW biologists have been in constant communication with this homeowner since this bear was reported entering his unsecured crawlspace in November,” a CDFW spokesperson told The Post. “We remain committed to helping this homeowner and have never indicated otherwise.”

The agency had no immediate comment in relation to the bear’s departure but did confirm it had left.

Johnson’s life had been turned upside down since Nov. 30.

He said he dealt with sleep deprivation from nighttime noises from the beast, as well as strange smells and severe damage under his home.

“It’s a lot more stressful than I thought,” Johnson said.

But now that the bear is gone, the homeowner said he loves the animal — as long as it stays away.

“A bear is not a good roommate,” he said. “We’re meant to co-exist, not co-habitat.”