California Family Beyond Startled To Find A Massive Bear Had Moved In Underneath Their Home

Jan 29, 2020 by apost team

If you’re like most people, you are probably tangentially familiar with bears. After all, you’ve seen them on television and at the zoo. But have you ever seen one up close and in the wild? One family from Lake Tahoe, California managed to experience a bear meeting that was a little too close for comfort when they discovered that this large animal had taken up residence under their house.

It all started when the family began to hear strange noises coming from underneath their log cabin home. It sounded like something was alive and moving around in the crawl space and, judging by the noise, it was bigger than just a stray cat.

The family thought that they were prepared for anything when they went outside and began to cautiously look for the unknown visitor who had made their home his as well. What they discovered was shocking: A huge black bear had made his way through the opening of their crawl space and had made himself at home for the winter beneath their house.

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Unwilling to share their home with the furry creature all winter, the family was quick to contact a group called the BEAR League. This group is set up to help with bear emergencies and, for the uncertain homeowners, their guest seemed a lot like an emergency.

Ann Bryant, who works with the BEAR League, says that crawl spaces provide bears with the perfect spot for them to hibernate during the winter months. Since these areas are dark, quiet, uninhabited, and dry, they seem like the next best thing to an actual cave. This isn’t the first bear that Ann has helped to move from under a home – in fact, she claims that they get calls almost every day during some months of the year, reports The Dodo.

Bryant came to investigate, then promised to come back the next day to move the bear. "I had to come back the next day because I needed to bring the necessary equipment to keep the bear from returning after I got him out," Bryant told apost. 

As soon as she left, it seemed that the bear had left with her since all the noises stopped. Thinking that it was a strange coincidence, the husband closed off the crawl space so that the bear couldn’t re-enter.

His move turned out to be premature since that night they began to hear more noises, indicating that the bear certainly had not moved. But, now that the door was in place, he was locked under the house!

After a fearful night, the family was glad to see Bryant return the next morning. Together, they worked to draw the bear outside so that he could move on to a different home. As soon as the bear sleepily lumbered out of his hiding spot, he caught sight of Bryant and decided it was time to take off.

Watching him run away from their home, the family was just glad that he hadn’t been hurt during his night-long stay trapped in their crawl space.

We’re so glad that this story has a happy ending. Have you ever had wildlife take up residence in your home? Let us hear about it in the comment section below!