They bought a house in LA. The neighbours are bears - and they won't stay out of the pool

Black bears love lounging in Brian Gordon and Ricardo Martinez's pool in Los Angeles. As bear encounters increase across Southern California, the couple share videos of their furry visitors and reveal how they are co-existing with these wild animals.

When Brian Gordon first learned that black bears were swimming in the pool of the house he was buying in Los Angeles, he was very afraid.

"I'd never seen a bear in real life. I said, 'We'll just build a big wall with barbed wire,'" he recalls.

Four years later, Gordon loves nothing more than seeing a family of bears playing in his pool and running around his garden. The furry visitors stop by several times a week. (Scroll down to watch a video of the bears at play.)

"They are fine to come here and scratch on the trees, take a nap, and jump in the pool if it's hot, as long as we're not creating harm for them, or for ourselves," Gordon says.

Gordon and his partner Ricardo Martinez have made it their mission to peacefully share their pool and garden with the bears. But behind these charming videos of bears relaxing in their pool, there's a deeper story of vigilance and safety precautions that make this co-existence possible.

The couple live in Monrovia, Los Angeles County, in Southern California, home to around 1,600 bears. Their house is in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and borders the Angeles National Forest, which spans 700,000 acres (2,830sq km).

When the couple moved in, they started spotting bears almost immediately. They initially tried to chase the bears away by yelling, using air horns and occasionally a paintball gun with soft rubber pellets.

"But it felt horrible," says Martinez. "It did not sit right with us. We said that as long as they're not breaking into the home and getting into the trash, then they're ok to come by."

They sought an approach that would keep both themselves and the bears safe, despite close proximity. "We've since settled on less aggressive means, and honestly, they work better for us," says Gordon.

Martinez says that black bears are "misunderstood". "They are not going to eat you," says Martinez. Black bear attacks are incredibly rare, with just one fatal attack recorded in California's history. 

The couple say they always keep a "healthy distance" from the bears and stay inside when the animals are around. There are sometimes unplanned encounters though. 

"We have had bears crashing barbecues," says Gordon. "But if they see you, they usually just walk away."

Gordon and Martinez say their favourite bear visitor is Maddie, who they first got to know as an incredibly inquisitive youngster in 2023. She loved playing in the pool and hanging around the garden.

"She is our golden child," says Martinez. A year later, Maddie returned with her cubs in tow. "Unfortunately she lost those cubs, so we went through an emotional rollercoaster with her," says Martinez. This year she has brought her new cubs to the house. "They're the most adorable [creatures] you've ever seen. They're so cuddly but also intimidating, with their long claws."

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