--- title: Watch: Family Of Bears Take A Dip At California Beach description: A family of bears took a break from the heat last week to cool off in the waters of Lake Tahoe, while a crowd of beachgoers watched. canonical: https://time.com/4438517/bears-at-lake-tahoe/ author: Emma Ockerman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-04T13:02:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:04.583Z og:title: Watch: Family Of Bears Takes A Dip At California Beach og:description: A family of bears took a break from the heat last week to cool off in the waters of Lake Tahoe, while a crowd of beachgoers watched. og:url: https://time.com/4438517/bears-at-lake-tahoe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch: Family Of Bears Takes A Dip At California Beach twitter:description: A family of bears took a break from the heat last week to cool off in the waters of Lake Tahoe, while a crowd of beachgoers watched. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch a Family Of Bears Take A Dip At California Beach by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Aug 4, 2016 1:02 PM UTC by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Aug 4, 2016 1:02 PM UTC A family of bears took a break from the heat last week [to cool off in the waters of Lake Tahoe](http://time.com/3912675/california-bear-invasion/?iid=sr-link1), while a crowd of beachgoers watched. A witness to the event captured the three bears on video,[ showing what appears to be a mother bear with two cubs](http://time.com/4061130/french-bulldog-chases-bears/?iid=sr-link2) resting in the water. Two kayakers nearby watched as the bears exited the lake back on to the crowded sandy shore at Pope Beach. They soon retreated to a woody area, but not without stopping at a picnic table first to sniff around, [as seen in another video uploaded by the same user](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5FZFc6S-MJkE). The cellphone video,[ shared by NBC affiliate KCRA on its Facebook page Tuesday](https://www.facebook.com/KCRA3/videos/10154402580821514/), has more than 8 million views. There are 250 to 300 wild black bears living in the [Lake Tahoe region, the station reports](http://www.kcra.com/news/California-drought-increases-bear-encounters-with-humans/41041576). Because of the [ongoing California drought](http://time.com/3849320/california-drought-wildfires/?iid=sr-link1), the streams that bears usually frequent have dried up, Jason Holley, a supervising wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told KCRA. “They’ll really rely on the lake more heavily during times of drought,” Holley said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4438517/bears-at-lake-tahoe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4438517/bears-at-lake-tahoe/"},"headline":"Watch a Family Of Bears Take A Dip At California Beach","datePublished":"2016-08-04T13:02:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:04.583Z","description":"Bears might be frequenting lakes to cool off during California's drought","url":"https://time.com/4438517/bears-at-lake-tahoe/","keywords":["Newsfeed","California","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Emma Ockerman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"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/4438517/bears-at-lake-tahoe/","name":"Watch a Family Of Bears Take A Dip At California Beach"}}]}] ```