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A family of bears recently visited a family in Monrovia, about 30 minutes from Los Angeles, and took a dip in their backyard pool.
As temperatures rose in southern California, the bear family was captured on video cooling off in the pool.
The video was taken by the homeowner Rick Martinez at about 12.30pm on Monday.
The footage shows the bears, an adult and two cubs, exploring the area, with the adult taking a dip in the pool while the cubs look on curiously.
Martinez and his partner, Brian Gordon, are reportedly accustomed to bear visits since moving into their home near a national forest in 2022.
The two have learned that the bears prefer to keep their distance from humans and merely pass through their property.
“They are just doing their own thing,” Mr Martinez was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
“I just happened to be home by chance. I ran home to grab something and while I was eating my lunch I heard a noise,” Mr Martinez said.
Taking precautions like securing trash and keeping a respectful distance, Mr Martinez and Mr Gordon enjoy observing the bears’ visits, considering it a natural part of living in their environment.
“We tend to get lots of wildlife crossing through here,” Mr Martinez told NBC LA. “We are always left in awe when we see the bears, especially a momma bear with cubs. We haven’t seen cubs that little before, and it was the cutest thing ever.”
He anticipates more sightings as mating season approaches.
“They are welcome here – they can come take a dip whenever.”
This isn’t the first time the adult bear has wandered into the neighbourhood. Her visits are so frequent that residents have affectionately named her Maddie, according to NBC LA. “We see her often,” Mr Gordon was quoted as saying.
“I think one of the neighbours got 400,000 likes on Instagram. She’s swinging on a swing. She was at an open house in somebody’s hot tub down the street. So, we see her quite a bit. She’s even crashed our pool parties. If we’re barbecuing, she’ll show up and scare everyone.”
Wildlife experts say that during this season, bears awaken from their winter hibernation seeking food and frequently venture into residential areas, KTLA 5 reported.
The black bear population in California has surged over the past 20 years, from 10,000 to 15,000 in the early 1980s to 25,000 to 30,000 today, and that’s considered a conservative estimate by the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife.
