Bear caught on camera having pool party in Northern California
FORESTHILL -- Caught bear-handed! Home surveillance video captured the moments a bear played in a Northern California pool in the middle of the night — all while homeowner Leslie Schmid and her husband were sound asleep.
"We looked back on our cameras and we found him about 2 a.m. starting his fun," said Schmid, who lives in the Placer County community of Foresthill.
Video from July shows that this isn't the first time this furry culprit was caught bare-handed in the act, but Schmid never thought it would happen in the middle of winter.
"We don't have a heater in our pool, so it's got to be cold water," she said.
Peter Tira, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said that hibernation is a biological response during the winter when food is less available.
With more people living in mountain communities, bears are finding easy access to garbage and quickly learning to associate humans, cars, and homes with a free meal. It's that dynamic that can cause a disruption in hibernation.
"It's a very slippery slope because once they learn to associate people and neighborhoods with food, they get bolder and bolder to get that food," Tira said.
Experts say this is a reminder that California bears are active year-round and it's important to secure trash, bring in bird feeders, and never leave food outside.
In this case, it could just be nature's way of saying, "We can have fun, too."
