A young family has had to learn to live side-by-side with wild animals—who sit in their pool and even play with their toys.
Liz Hatakeyama lives in California with her husband, Eiki, and their daughter Remi, whom she fondly calls Goldilocks thanks to her affinity for bears.
The family lives in a home in the foothills of Los Angeles, with Hatakeyama describing it to Newsweek as “on a mountainside,” with “no fence between our pool and the surrounding Los Angeles forest.”
“Our home was built in the 1940s, and the pool was added in the 1960s, so I like to imagine these bears have been visiting this pool for generations,” she said.
“On hot days, the bears simply wander through, take a refreshing dip, and head back into the woods.”
Bears are common in California; the Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates there are up to 71,000 black bears in the state. Despite the name, black bears can come in shades of brown and tan, not to be confused with brown grizzly bears—however, California grizzlies became extinct by the 1920s.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department warns that bears, when seeking sustenance, will break into homes, rummage through trash and eat food left out for pets.
The wild animals will also target homes with swimming pools or ponds when seeking water, and will both drink and bathe in the water—and that’s certainly what the Hatakeyama family has found.
“We were definitely surprised the first year we lived here! But since then, we’ve learned to respectfully coexist,” she told Newsweek.
The Hatakeyamas regularly catch the visitors to their garden and now enjoy watching them from inside their home, as their outdoor pool is directly outside the window.
They recently had a close-up view to one giant animal taking a leisurely dip—and even checking out their daughter’s toy collection.
One video sees Hatakeyama recording a bear directly outside their home, sitting in the pool and playing with Remi’s collection of mermaid dolls, as the little girl watches on from behind the safety of the glass.
The bear holds up one mermaid doll and gazes at it while sitting in the water. The animal is gentle, looking at it before dropping it in the water and picking it up again, as Remi provides a running commentary from the window.
Hatakeyama told Newsweek that they enjoy living side-by-side with the bears, have learned to “never leave food or water out” which could attract them.
“Whenever they visit, we simply give them plenty of space and let them enjoy the pool,” she said.
“The very best time of year is spring, when the mama bears bring their cubs. Watching the little ones splash, play, and explore has become one of our favorite signs that spring has arrived.”
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