WATCH: Bears swim in pool, enjoy summer day in Southern California
SIERRA MADRE, Calif. (KTLA) — Video captured a mama bear and her two cubs enjoying a summer day of activities in Sierra Madre, California, on Tuesday.
The bears were first spotted near a café around noontime, witnesses said.
The trio were then seen roaming around town before jumping into a pool to enjoy a refreshing dip at an apartment complex.
They later climbed trees in the area before sniffing around a few front gardens and then heading back home towards the mountains.
As the summer months heat up, bear sightings are becoming more common for humans who like to spend time outdoors, and this isn’t even the first time bears have enjoyed a dip in a pool this month.
Ed Afsharian shared video with NewsNation affiliate KTLA showing another recent instance of bears entering someone’s backyard to take a swim.
The video shows a mother bear and a cub playfully swimming around in a pool at a home in the foothills of La Cañada Flintridge, about 15 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.
A similar video in the same city showed a mother bear and a cub splashing around in a hot tub.
While both videos feature a mother bear and a cub, and both were taken in La Cañada, it’s unclear if it’s the same bear and cub in both instances.
Earlier his month, a KTLA viewer also shared video of another bear splashing around in a backyard pool. In the nearby city of Burbank, yet another bear was seen lounging in a backyard hot tub. Video shared by the Burbank Police Department shows the bear sitting upright in the hot tub, looking almost like a guest of the homeowner.
“I was upstairs and I heard a lot of commotion and some beeping sounds,” homeowner Diana Lewis said. “And here he was, just having fun in the jacuzzi. Very happy.”
That bear eventually left the hot tub and scaled a tree, where it remained for several hours before finally coming down and returning into the Verdugo Mountains.
To reduce the likelihood of having a bad encounter with a bear, the National Park Service has a list of tips and tricks to avoid such encounters, along with what to do if you come face-to-face with one of the apex predators.
Some of those tips include talking calmly to the bear so it knows you’re human and not prey; getting as big as possible; and remaining calm. You should never run from a bear, climb a tree to escape, or allow the animal to eat your food.
More tips, including when to play dead and when to fight back, can be found at the National Park Service’s official website.