If you are considering whether to put a swimming pool in your backyard, as part of the process you undoubtedly receive a lot of legal disclosures about the risks involved in installing any kind of pool. I find myself wondering, however, whether you receive warnings about . . . bears.
I thought of this important question after seeing a news story about how a home security camera caught a bear going for a dip in a backyard pool in Monrovia, California. You can see the article and the video here. In the video, the bear climbs over a rear wall, tumbles to the ground, sniffs around the pool, then decides to take a lap and cool off before exiting the premises the way he came in.
I thought the video was unusual until I did a search for bears in pools, and found that there are a lot of YouTube videos and stories about incidents in which bears decided to take a swim in a pool. The videos show bear swims across the country, in California, Tennessee, Florida, and even New Jersey (where the bears probably have a Jersey accent). The bears aren’t picky about their swimming venues, either: they’ll gladly splash around in In-ground or above-ground pools. They don’t even mind a belly-flop, as shown in the picture above.
The homeowner who posted the video of the bear climbing his back wall for a swim took it in good humor, saying there was “never a dull moment” in his household. I wonder, however, how enjoyable it will be lounging in that pretty little pool in the future, knowing all the while that at any moment a bear could climb the wall and dive in. It’s hard to really relax when you are on bear alert and have to keep one eye open for a visit from a furry friend.
Webner House 