A trap was set for a bear living under an Altadena home for a month. It caught the wrong bear

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A trap meant to capture a bear that’s been under an Altadena home for a month was sprung but was triggered by the wrong beast.Biologists at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have had a bear trap set at Ken Johnson’s house since Dec.9 in an attempt to capture a 550-pound male black bear that wedged itself in the crawl space of his home a month ago.After weeks of unsuccessfully setting out caramel- and cherry-flavored bait and noisemakers in the hopes of flushing the bear out, it seemed like all of the efforts had paid off last week.

Johnson heard the rattling of the metal cage from inside his home Dec.16, but realized quickly it wasn’t the right bear.

“I knew my bear hadn’t gone out because I’ve got enough cameras on it,” Johnson said.The bear they did catch was tagged and released in a nearby suitable habitat, the department confirmed.California The bear that squeezed through a small opening and made himself at home is tagged by wildlife officials as 2120 and has been trapped and moved from Altadena before.Christmas Day made it 31 days since the bear, called Yellow 2120 by researchers, squeezed itself into a small opening underneath Johnson’s home.

But visits from bears are not unique in Altadena, situated at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.Johnson and his neighbors constantly see bears, especially on trash day.

In fact, a few weeks ago, a different bear poked its head down into the crawl space and was scared off by Yellow 2120, Johnson told The Times previously.“It’s funny but it’s not,” Johnson said.He’s jury-rigged a burglar alarm with foam so it makes a clattering sound loud enough for the neighbor’s Ring camera to pick up, he said.

He’s burned CDs with hours of dog barking audio and pointed speakers into the vents, all in the hopes of flushing Yellow 2120 out.None of it has worked.“I just don’t feel completely a...