Bear goes for a dip in New Jersey family's backyard swimming pool

MENDHAM, New Jersey (WABC) -- An uninvited guest in New Jersey just couldn't bear this weekend's heat, providing a couple in Mendham with an unexpected surprise for Father's Day.

They looked out their window a saw a black bear taking an afternoon dip in their pool.

"I was sunning myself by the pool, trying to get warmed up, and then I said, OK, I'm going to go in and take a little dip," Joan McNeill said. "I looked over to the side, and my friend the bear was swimming laps."

That meant no laps for her, as the wild animal laid claim to her swimming facilities for about 15 minutes Sunday.

"I did not see him come up, and I didn't even hear a splash," she said. "I ran in the house and I just kept saying, 'the bear, the bear, the bear.'"

The McNeills and their daughter grabbed every iPad in the house and started recording the serene scene, the bear laid back enough that Ron McNeill even ventured outside for a moment.

"I inched my way out when he was toward the shallow end," he said. "I wasn't going to chance anything."

Sufficiently cooled off, the bear was on its way, leaving the pool area just as pristine as it was before.

"Our neighbors have been spotting, we think, maybe the same bear," said. "He's around almost every day at one of the neighbor's, so I think he's becoming the neighborhood mascot."

Residents say there has been an increase in bear sightings recently, and experts warn you should stay inside and never approach an animal.