It is exactly what it shows in the picture – a family of black bears tried to escape the summer heat not in a river, but in someone else’s pool.
These backyard party crashers surprised a family in Rockaway, New Jersey when a mama bear dipped into the home’s above-ground pool together with her five cubs.
Tim Basso posted the video on Youtube where it was watched and rewatched over 8 million times.
The cubs in the video seemed to enjoy themselves, especially when they played with the swingset and even used the slide.
Basso said to ABC:
“I thought they would get a drink or just drink out of it for a minute and then move on, but they pretty much started climbing,”
You can hear his family speaking in the video even if they’re out of frame.
The Basso family mom seemed to enjoy the presence of their curious visitors, but their kids are not sharing the same enthusiasm.
“There are bears in the pool!” one of the Basso kids cried. “They broke my floatie!”
And while Tim was busy figuring out a way to defend the house or chase the bears away, his wife called out to just leave the bears alone. Besides, as she said, the water’s already dirty.
This is also the advice of wildlife officials and the police.
They said that people should secure their families and just watch the animals from a safe distance.
As Martin McParland from the Roxbury Township Police Department shared with ABC:
“Like any mother, human or animal, they’re protective of their young. Just follow common sense thinking. They’re still wild animals, not toys,”
Tim Basso was worried that if the mama bear tried to get out of the pool, the walls would collapse. It didn’t seem to faze the bear family, though.
One of the cubs even swam towards his mom so they could play in the water together.
Meanwhile, the cub’s siblings explored the surrounding “amenities” of the Basso backyard. One of them curiously approached the swing while the other one climbed to the top of the slide. They seemed to enjoy themselves and it gave us a glimpse of how animals value recreation.
The mama bear and her family left on their own after an hour.
The whole episode may have brought the Bassos a bit too close for comfort when it comes to wildlife but Tim Basso shared with ABC that it wasn’t a “terrible experience.”
“They came in, they experienced the pool, they got it, they seemed to enjoy themselves. They did a little bit of damage on the pool toys and floats and whatnot, but all in all, I don’t think it was a terrible experience,”
This is not the first time this family of bears was seen in the neighborhood, and we’re pretty sure it won’t be the last.
Bear pool party crashers are not as isolated as you think.
Just recently, a family of black bears frolicked around a chalet park in Gatlinburg, Tenessee.
The video, posted to YouTube by Michelle Johnson on May 25, showed one cub enjoying a dip in the children’s pool, the other two inspecting the tennis court, and another relaxing in a separate pool.
In the end, humans and bears have a lot of things in common – honey, salmon, and pool parties.
Watch how this family of bears crash a pool party to beat the summer heat.
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