Samy Arbid had a surprise guest hiding out at his Altadena home when he finally returned to the neighborhood after the Eaton Fire.
Cozied up in his crawlspace was a 525-pound bear.
“We ended up putting a ring camera with a light on it under the crawlspace and found out we have a giant bear under there,” Arbid said. “It was nerve-wracking for a while.”
Arbid said some neighbors knew the bear as Berry while others called him Victor. No matter what his name was, the community knew he lived just around the corner in Eaton Canyon, which is where the recent wildfire started.
“I think during the fire he pretty much stayed in there,” Arbid said. “I think he was scared.”
So Cal Gas crews were also scared since they couldn’t access the meter to turn the gas back on after the fire once they found a bear there.
To help usher the bear along, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife set up a trap to tempting for it to ignore.
“So, they went to Stater Brothers and bought some rotisserie chicken and sardines and tomato sauce, apples, peanut butter — all kinds of stuff,” Arbid said. “They made a feast for him.”
Luckily, the platter lured the bear out. Since the bear was too large to tranquilize, experts trapped it and moved it.
“The biologist actually said it was the biggest bear he’s ever seen in person,” Arbid said.
Neighbors were happy to hear that it was fine and had a good meal.
“He’s pretty harmless,” neighbor Patty Smith said. “He just wants some good trash, like we all like some good trash.”
Smith said she’s been worried about all the wildlife in her neighborhood because they suffered through the fire, too.
“I don’t know if he was injured,” she said. “I don’t know if his paws were singed or anything like that but he found safety under there.”
Wildlife officials fitted a GPS collar and relocated the bear back to the Angeles National Forest.
