Two 500-plus pound black bears have laid claim to homes evacuated during the destructive Eaton fire in southern California.
Last month, when Samy Arbid returned to his Altadena home, he found “Barry” – a 525lb black bear – living under the house. This week, another Californian reported a different unexpected visitor living in his house’s crawlspace in neighboring Pasadena: another 500 to 600lb bear.
“I think it found refuge under the house during the fire, and it’s definitely not moving – that’s its home,” the homeowner, Sean Lorenzini, told the Los Angeles Times.
California fish and wildlife officials lured the first bear into a trap after a 24-hour odyssey involving peanut butter and a rotisserie chicken, and were able to relocate “Barry” to the nearby Angeles national forest.
Lorenzini, who has filed a report of the bear living under his house, is hoping the department can do the same for him. A spokesperson for the department of fish and wildlife told the Los Angeles Times that the agency was aware of the Pasadena bear and working on a response.
When a bear is in a crawlspace, fish and wildlife officials “recommend that homeowners contact the department so that a wildlife professional can evaluate the situation and help determine ways that the homeowner can discourage the bear from using the crawlspace and seal the entrance immediately once the animal is out”, the department said in a post about the Altadena bear.
In the meantime, Lorenzini says the bear seems at ease, raiding the neighbors’ trash can for food, soaking up the California sun by his pool and terrorizing the neighbor’s pet goat.
Although life for Lorenzini is a little less comfortable since his enormous roommate moved in. The Pasadena homeowner is trying to repair his house in the wake of southern California’s most destructive wildfires, and his basement resident has made plumbers reluctant to visit the property.
Black bears – the only species of bear living in California – frequently stumble into the Los Angeles communities along the edge of the Angeles national forest, including those such as Altadena and Pasadena that were ravaged by the deadly Eaton fire.
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As cities encroach closer on bear habitats, bear sightings are growing more common. In 2017, California registered 28 bear sightings in Los Angeles county. In 2023, that number rose to 455.
The fish and wildlife department also notes that drought and an increasing black bear population are probably related to increased sightings. Bears are not only seeking food and water, but the black bear population in California also grew significantly after the extinction of the state’s grizzly bear population in the 1920s.
As humans fled the Eaton wildfire, it’s likely that bears and other wildlife did the same – like the bear Lorenzini believes took shelter under his house. After the 2018 Woolsey fire, researchers at the University of California Los Angeles documented high rates of Malibu mountain lions killed by drivers as they too tried to escape the burn zone.
While California black bears are notably non-confrontational – and have only killed one person in recorded history, in a 2023 incident – fish and wildlife recommends California homeowners prepare for increasing bear encounters by closing crawl spaces “with bear-proof material in advance of winter months to discourage bears from denning and damaging property”.
