--- title: Bear, Cubs in Swimming Pool in New Jersey description: Mama bear and five cubs found in Rockaway New Jersey swimming pool and backyard swing set canonical: https://time.com/4006334/bear-cubs-pool-party-new-jersey/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-21T15:49:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:23:42.797Z og:title: Bear, Cubs in Swimming Pool in New Jersey og:description: Mama bear and five cubs found in Rockaway New Jersey swimming pool and backyard swing set og:url: https://time.com/4006334/bear-cubs-pool-party-new-jersey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ec29e8982372f7c/69886062cf40a80c54c3f572/screen-shot-2015-08-21-at-11-33-25-am.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2015-08-21 at 11.33.25 AM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bear, Cubs in Swimming Pool in New Jersey twitter:description: Mama bear and five cubs found in Rockaway New Jersey swimming pool and backyard swing set twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ec29e8982372f7c/69886062cf40a80c54c3f572/screen-shot-2015-08-21-at-11-33-25-am.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bear and Cubs Found in New Jersey Family's Swimming Pool  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Aug 21, 2015 3:49 PM UTC   by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Aug 21, 2015 3:49 PM UTC Tim Basso of Rockaway, New Jersey, found a mama bear and her five clubs taking a dip in his family’s swimming pool Tuesday. He [told](http://newjersey.news12.com/news/family-of-bears-hosts-pool-party-at-rockaway-home-1.10759499) [News 12 New Jersey](http://newjersey.news12.com/news/family-of-bears-hosts-pool-party-at-rockaway-home-1.10759499) that when he first noticed the bears, “My first thought was really, where is the dog? And where are the kids?” The animals wrestled while exploring his kids’ backyard swing, toys, water slide, floaties and caused some damaged some in the process, he told the news station. In one of the videos, the kids can be heard crying, and his wife can be heard telling Basso, “Leave them \[the bears\] alone. The water is already dirty. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4006334/bear-cubs-pool-party-new-jersey/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4006334/bear-cubs-pool-party-new-jersey/"},"headline":"Bear and Cubs Found in New Jersey Family's Swimming Pool","datePublished":"2015-08-21T15:49:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:23:42.797Z","description":"Party animals!","url":"https://time.com/4006334/bear-cubs-pool-party-new-jersey/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ec29e8982372f7c/69886062cf40a80c54c3f572/screen-shot-2015-08-21-at-11-33-25-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ec29e8982372f7c/69886062cf40a80c54c3f572/screen-shot-2015-08-21-at-11-33-25-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2015-08-21 at 11.33.25 AM","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4006334/bear-cubs-pool-party-new-jersey/","name":"Bear and Cubs Found in New Jersey Family's Swimming Pool"}}]}] ```