Bear Swimming In Pool Has A Little Trouble With His Surf Board [Video]

Bears, as you may have guessed, love a little leisure time in the water. From rivers, to back yard pools, bears have been found swimming in a number of places. One bear living at the Single Vision Animal Sanctuary in Melrose, Florida, has a pool all to himself.

Single Vision is an non-profit endangered species educational wildlife facility. The organization’s mission is to educate the general public about endangered animals around the globe.

“Our mission is to educate the public on the dangers our exotic wildlife are facing in the wild. Most exotic species are endangered today due to illegal poaching and habitat destruction. If we don’t give them a voice and fight to keep them alive, soon captivity will be the only place most of these amazing animals will be found. Through educational programs and exhibiting our animals, we hope to inspire people to help change the plight of these rare creatures. It is up to us to make a difference.”

When the Syrian brown bear, named Bruiser, was ten months old, bTV interviewed the owner of Single Vision, Carl Bovard. At his facility, Bovard cares for (at the time) a number of different animals including six tigers, two lions, two bear cubs, two mountain lions, two bobcats, and two alligators.

Bruiser, the brown bear, is one of the younger animals at the sanctuary and so he gets a lot of attention. He and Bovard play in the pool together. Bruiser has taken to the pool more so than the other bear, a Florida black bear named Honey. She can also be seen in the video.

“The bears used to go in and out of the little pools in their enclosure, and at about three months they climbed the ladder of the big pool and basically hopped right in,” Bovard explains, “They love being in and playing around in the water. Honey, my Florida black bear, likes the water too but she doesn’t take to it quite like Bruiser.”

In the video, Bruiser is having a bit of trouble with his surf board, one that he could fit on when he was only ten-months-old. Now, however, he can only hang on and look adorable.

Please remember that while bears are cute, especially while swimming in a pool, they are still wild animals. One family learned this first hand on their trip to Yellowstone National Park. If you see a bear do not engage it in anyway. Call local authorities if you think the bear is somewhere it should not be.

For now, just enjoy videos of bear trying to surf in swimming pools.

[Image via YouTube Screenshot]