This is the heartwarming moment a mother bear took her two babies for a dip in a family's swimming pool in California.

Footage shows the mama bear and her cubs climbing through the gap under the property's gate in San Gabriel on May 6.

The adult and her two offspring then walked along the garden, made a stop by a tree to scratch their sides, until they found the pool where they cooled off together.

The trio swam and enjoyed the water in the home which was near their habitat in the Angeles National Forest before they left as the owner Ricky Martinez, 36, stayed inside and watched them.

Ricky said he had never been troubled by bears in the neighbourhood and said there was a 'harmonious coexistence' between residents and the animals.

There are an estimated 25,000 and 35,000 black bears in California. They are the only kind of bears found in the wild in the state.

Conservationists believe the numbers are healthy and have actually been increasing in recent decades.