A week after a 550-pound bear was evicted from under an Altadena home, another Altadena resident about a mile away reported a bear taking up residency under that home\u2019s floorboards.<\/p>\n
Animal control officers from Pasadena Humane confirmed that a bear was living under an Altadena house<\/a> Sunday but could not be sure if the latest bear squatter was the same bruin from the earlier incident.<\/p>\n As of Tuesday, the latest bear tenant was no longer under the house, a spokesperson from Pasadena Humane confirmed.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately this time of year, it\u2019s often hard to get bears from under houses because they\u2019re looking for shelter,\u201d said Kevin McManus, public relations and communications director at Pasadena Humane. \u201cSo they\u2019re gonna cozy up wherever they think is an adequate shelter for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Following confirmation of a bear sighting, Pasadena Humane notified the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which has jurisdiction over the state\u2019s 60,000 black bears.<\/a> California has the highest bear population estimate in the contiguous United States.<\/p>\n This is not the first uninvited guest in the area.<\/p>\n For six weeks, a massive male black bear made himself comfortable in another Altadena home<\/a> not far from the most recent incident. Last week, that bear was chased out with paintball pellets, a tactic used by the BEAR League, a nonprofit based in Lake Tahoe, to run the bear out. When the bruin returned, it was met with tiny shocks from an electrified mat, which made him scurry away.<\/p>\n Both spokespersons from Fish and Wildlife and Pasadena Humane say it is inconclusive if this recent sighting is the same bear based on gathered footage<\/a>, since a yellow tag on the bear\u2019s ear was not clearly visible.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a prevalent area for bear activity that this very well could be a different bear, so we can\u2019t say that it\u2019s the same,\u201d says Cort Klopping, Fish and Wildlife information officer for the south coast region and inland deserts region, adding that only biologists can confirm the bear\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n Bear sightings are frequent in the areas surrounding the San Gabriel Mountains. Locals and wildlife experts say the Eaton fire exacerbated the situation<\/a>, driving many bears out of their natural habitat in search of food, water and shelter.<\/p>\n