Bears cooling off — and cleaning up — to beat the heat in summer

Bears are no dummies.

They know when they’re hot and dirty to take the plunge.

Take Tejon a black bear at the Oakland Zoo.

He played with some bubbles and wedged himself into a tub for “spa day” at the zoo this week.

Tejon was taken in by the zoo with his two siblings and mother, Cambria, in 2017 after entered the home of an elderly woman. Cambria injured the woman, but instead of euthanizing the habituated bears, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife let the zoo take them in.

Spa Day for Tejon the black bear 🐻🛁#treatyoself pic.twitter.com/Sxvm3oKKjV
— Oakland Zoo (@oakzoo) July 11, 2021

Across the continent, way up in Golden, British Columbia, another rescue bear was spotted recently cooling off.

Boo, a grizzly who lives at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, also took a dip during western Canada’s recent heat dome.

“BC heatwave got us like…,” the resort shared on social media along with a picture of Boo lounging in some water.

Boo has been living in a huge enclosure at the ski hill for years.

BC heatwave got us like… pic.twitter.com/kr3Wf9Q0Ny
— Kicking Horse Mountain Resort (@KickingHorseMtn) June 29, 2021

The Center for Biological Diversity, based in Tucson, Arizona, is also spotting bears all over the U.S. southwest and northern Mexico trying to beat the heat.

“One of our borderlands remote cameras recently captured dozens of videos of a black bear really enjoying a cooling canyon pool,” the scientific and conservation organization tweeted.

It’s summer in the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico. That means it’s hot, but also that much-needed monsoon rains are rolling in. One of our borderlands remote cameras recently captured dozens of videos of a black bear really enjoying a cooling canyon pool. #HotBearSummer pic.twitter.com/xU9gyTzK18
— Center for Bio Div (@CenterForBioDiv) July 7, 2021

Bears love manmade pools, too.

Once they’re in, they’re theirs.

If I had a pool in this kind of area, my pool would be strictly for bears only. No humans, ONLY BEARS. https://t.co/7SsYPA10Ot
— Natalie (@Nali369) July 7, 2021