Watch: Bear takes cold-weather night swim in California family's pool

Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A California family's home security camera captured footage of a bear that made a late-night visit to their back yard and took a swim in the pool.

Leslie Schmid said she and her husband were asleep at their Foresthill home when the bear arrived at about 2 a.m. and went for a dip.

Schmid said a bear, which she believes to be the same animal, previously came by for a swim in July, but she was surprised to see the bruin taking a cold-weather dip.

"We don't have a heater in our pool, so it's got to be cold water," she told CBS Sacramento.

Peter Tira, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the visit should serve as a reminder that many California bears are active year-round, as access to food from trash and other human-created sources eliminates their need to hibernate.

"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.