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Black Bear Goes Swimming in Bethlehem, PA Backyard Pool

A young black bear enjoyed some recreation time in Bethlehem this morning while local police officers worked to corral the furry visitor.

Residents told police that the bear was going through people’s yards near Cloverleaf Street and Melrose Ave in Bethlehem. 

Officers tracked down and eventually tranquilized the bear, but not before making a statement to local residents about whose turf they were living on.

After the bear spent the morning climbing over fences and spending time in the warm weather, it apparently became hot and even “decided to take a dip in a nearby swimming pool” says Bethlehem Police Chief Mark A. DiLuzio.

That’s where these photos came from.

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Photos courtesy of Sgt. Boddie, Officer Brylewski and Officer Kovacs

(Photos shared by Bethlehem City Police, and courtesy of Sgt. Boddie, Officer Brylewski and Officer Kovacs.)

After the bear was corralled and tranquilized in a resident’s yard, it was “happily relocated to North Central Pennsylvania where pools are called swamps and there are hundreds of acres of woodland for the bear to roam.”

The bear was not injured.

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