With temperatures soaring across the US, people and animals alike are looking for a place to find relief. In southern California, one bear sought to beat the heat by taking a dip in a hot tub.
On Friday, police in Burbank responded to a report of a bear sighting in a residential neighborhood. The bear was filmed calmly lounging in the hot tub. After a short dip, the bear climbed over a wall and headed to a tree behind the home, police said in a statement.
While seeing a bear kicking back in a jacuzzi is novel, it’s not completely uncommon. In June last year, a bear was seen walking on sidewalks and ducking in and out of backyards in a neighborhood in Fairfield, in northern California. Two months later, a bear was spotted splashing around in a pool at a home in Monrovia, east of Los Angeles. Days after that a bear was spotted swimming in a backyard pool in Simi valley, 40 miles north-west of Los Angeles.
A black bear known as BB-12 strolled along beaches in Malibu several times before he was fatally struck on a highway earlier this month.
Since bears, like dogs, do not have sweat glands, they will cool off in whatever body of water they can find, including private pools and jacuzzis, according to BearWise, an organization comprising bear biologists that aims to teach people how to coexist with bears.
Residents of Burbank, which sits 12 miles north of Los Angeles, met wildlife officials in June to express their concerns about bears in residential spaces after one of the animals almost made its way into someone’s kitchen, KTLA reported.
These sorts of interactions in urban and residential environments are expected to become more common as the climate warms and makes scarce the food bears depend on, such as nuts and berries. This throws off their hibernation cycle and forces them to scrounge for food and water in people’s garbage cans and backyards, KCRA, Sacramento’s NBC affiliate reported.
The Burbank police have issued warnings for residents to avoid bears and to keep all garbage and food locked up to discourage the animals from coming to their residences.
