We all like to lounge around the pool on a hot summer day, drink in hand, relaxing and finding a way to keep cool. And we’re not the only ones.
In a user-submitted video, the CBC showed a Nanaimo-area bear taking a dip in a pool which had just been prepared for a swim by a homeowner.
"I thought 'There's that darn bear, he's in the pool just after I finished cleaning it and putting all the chemicals in, I was ready to go for a swim myself and he beat me to it,'” said pool owner Bruce Irwin.
This video is a lesson in two ways: one obvious, and one not so obvious.
Just like how fences and property lines mean little to any animal other than a human, to a non-human animal, a pool is a lake is a pond. In this case, it’s a rather adorable video and a great story to tell around the kitchen at the next house party. But attractants can invite animals to your (or your neighbours’) properties that are unwanted. This can lead to fear, and that, as always, can lead to rash actions.
The video also leads us to think of the animals who love the water – who, in fact, want to spend 60 per cent of their time in water – and aren’t able to access it. Across the fur farms of British Columbia, semi-aquatic mink are living in wire-bottomed cages without access to the open water they so crave. And as the temperatures soar, their desire to get into water will only increase. Until we can lead Canada to a fur-free future, that suffering will continue.
While we enjoy our pools, air conditioning and other luxuries, remember there are some animals – wild and in captivity – who want the same things.
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