“Beary Christmas!”: Altadena Man’s Holiday Plans Upended by 550-Pound Houseguest
The holidays are shaping up to be less merry and a lot more hairy for an Altadena man who has been sharing his home with a 550-pound bear.
“You don’t really feel like having people over when there’s a giant creature under your house,” said Ken Johnson, who has been living with the unexpected guest for more than three weeks.
Johnson revealed he’s canceled his usual potluck Christmas party, though he joked that he briefly considered asking guests to BYOB—“bring your own bear.” The ordeal has left him feeling like the Grinch. “I’m not going to decorate, I’m not in the mood,” he said. That means no tree, no lights, no mistletoe. Bah-hum-bug!
However, Johnson hasn’t given up entirely. He plans to hang stockings for himself, his cat Boo, and, of course, the bear.
“I hope Santa gets the message that he’s been a bad boy and brings him coal,” Johnson said. “Though if he gets sardines, he might like that. Boo will get some treats or a toy mouse because he’s been good.”
He also has one “special present” for the bear—noise. “I have three CD players playing the sounds of dogs barking. Bears don’t like dogs. They’re different dogs—some are barking, some are growling,” Johnson explained.
The bear, nicknamed “Unbearable” by Johnson’s friends, arrived at his home on November 30 and has been an uninvited guest ever since.
It’s taken a toll on Johnson’s sleep and his home. “The bear wakes me up at five in the morning. It’s messing stuff up under the house, and that’s going to cost money,” he said.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has been working around the clock to remove the bear. Their first attempt involved using a scent spray made of cherries and caramel—pleasant to bears, but nauseating for Johnson.
“It smells really bad. Not something you’d want in your house,” he said.
The second attempt involved a box trap stocked with the “bear necessities”—fried chicken, sardines, shrimp, peanut butter, and apples. The trap worked, but it caught the wrong bear, a neighborhood black bear, which was later released to a suitable nearby habitat, said CDFW spokesman Cort Klopping.
Johnson doesn’t expect wildlife officials to stick around for eggnog. “They’ll probably take the holiday off,” he said. Klopping confirmed, “The biologists get time off for Christmas. If there was an emergency, they’d jump into action, so hopefully Ken doesn’t see them.”
Since news of the Altadena bear broke, Johnson has been swarmed by camera crews, news helicopters, and curious onlookers, which seems to have spooked the animal.
Despite the chaos, Johnson knows exactly what he wants for Christmas. “I want the bear to leave. As cute as he is, it’s definitely time to go. That would be a Christmas miracle.”
He added a final wish for Santa: “I’d like him to come out during Christmas Day while it’s light out, so I can get a good picture and share it with everyone. That would be a Beary Merry Christmas.”
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