The idea of bears having a pool party sounds pretty amusing — unless they’re using your pool.
The Basso family of Rockaway, New Jersey got quite a surprise back in the summer of 2015 when they looked out of their back window to see six black bears splashing around in their above-ground pool!
The mama bear decided to take her five cubs to what she decided was the public pool for some summer fun.
And they had a great time by the looks of it. They spent over an hour splashing around, wrestling one another, and even making use of the Basso’s swingset and slide.
“I thought they would get a drink and move on, but they stayed,” Tim Basso told the local news.
Basso uploaded three videos of the escapade on YouTube. And despite one being over 11 minutes long, it’s been viewed a whopping 7.8 MILLION times since August 2015.
There wasn’t much the family could do other than stand by and watch the bears have a field day with their stuff. And while mom largely takes it in stride, the Basso’s daughter can be heard protesting mightily in the background.
“Noooooo!” she cried. “Now there’s going to be hair everywhere in the pool.”
Dad isn’t impressed either, thinking of all the damage their claws are likely doing.
“They’re gonna be poking holes with their feet in the floor,” he says.
No one was harmed because all of the humans were smart enough to stay far away from the furry family, but their pool inflatables had seen better days by the end of the video.
We wonder if insurance covers bear damage.
The only truly dangerous part is when the mama bear decides to grab the water pump. And mama human is afraid she’s going to electrocute herself. Alas, she’s fine.
In fact, mom is enjoying watching the bears, unlike the rest of her family. One commenter summed the family’s reactions up perfectly:
“Daughter: Complains about toys
Dad: Complains about the money
Mom: There for a good time”
One particularly funny moment comes when the little girl (who presumably won’t be swimming in that pool for a while) can be heard saying, “I wish the bears were in someone else’s pool.”
Fair enough, little one.
Indeed, the color of the water after their playtime would indicate that this was their first bath in quite a while!
According to NBC 4 New York, the bears returned the next week and a neighbor snapped some photos of their next summer fun day, which included bounding around people’s front yards and rummaging through trash, knocking over bins along the way (but no pool time).
Guess mama didn’t teach her cubs any manners!
Everyone in the neighborhood was concerned at how cavalier the bears were in a residential neighborhood.
“I don’t want to turn my back for too long on my kids if they’re playing in the backyard,” Basso said.
A year later, he updated his long video with the caption: “July 2016 update: Mom and five cubs have been seen in the neighborhood, but not in our yard.”
Frankly, while the family technically moved into the bears’ backyard, we’re surprised authorities didn’t intervene to relocate the bears so residents didn’t get hurt.
Basso’s YouTube channel is full of videos chronicling the returns of the bears quite frequently, even up until a year ago!
Be sure to scroll down below to see some scenes from the bear family’s wild adventure or click here to see the original video.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
