The Rec Club Offers A ‘Free Membership’ To A Wild Bear That Enjoys Swimming There

People usually pay to use the pools at Lift Sopot, a Bulgarian leisure club at the foot of the Balkan Mountains. But this visitor isn’t just any ordinary visitor.

Staff there began noting that someone was stopping by the pool on a regular basis to take an illicit swim a few months ago. Despite the fact that the pool had been closed for the season, this occurred many times a week, always after hours.

The perpetrator was identified after studying security camera video.

It was a bear that was having a great time.

Rather of trying to persuade the bear not to swim there, the facility’s employees used a far gentler approach. They decided to give him free membership to the club instead, after seeing how much joy the pool brought him and noticing that he wasn’t causing any issue.

Swimmy was the moniker given to the water-loving bear.

“He is invited to come,” Lift Sopot spokesman Albina Yasinskaya told The Dodo. “Swimmy is adored by all of our employees.”

Here’s a clip of Swimmy in action, complete with a collage of his pool antics:

Thankfully, no one bothers the bear during his trips, and he always returns to the surrounding woodland without trouble. In some ways, he’s a model rec club member.

“He loves to swim in the nights, when the pool is lit up,” Yasinskaya explained. “The only thing we have against him is that he doesn’t shower before going swimming.”