Black bear cools off in California homeowner’s pool over hot Labor Day weekend

A black bear in California was seen taking a dip in a homeowner’s pool as the summer heat swelled in Southern California. 

“I just happened to look over the window and I thought it was a person swimming in the pool,” Simi Valley homeowner Mike Emanuel told Fox Los Angeles. “I was like, ‘Who the hell was in the swimming pool?’”

Emanuel found the bear in his backyard on Saturday, when temperatures in the area hit 108 degrees. 

“It’s so dry out there… never in a million years would I think would there’d be a bear swimming in the pool,” Emanuel said.

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Simi Valley is located about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles. 

Video footage caught the bear cooling off in the pool before getting out and scratching its back on a poolside tree. 

The homeowner said he called a nonemergency line to report the bear because he did not want the animal to get shot by authorities. 

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“I said, ‘Hey there’s a bear in my backyard,’ and then they asked me if I’d been drinking,” Emanuel recalled of the phone call.

There are roughly 30,000 – 40,000 California black bears in the state, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. 

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California officials are warning residents to not approach bears, saying the large animals will rummage for food before returning to their habitats. 

A bear was spotted in the same area on Sunday morning, with a person reporting a bear got into their home through an open door, Fox Los Angeles reported. The sightings resulted in no incidents, the Department of Fish and Wildlife told the outlet.