Purrs for a bear cub

Bear cub rises from Shasta-Trinity's ashes
Smokey Bear might have a rival in the mascot department.

A 7-month-old black bear cub rescued from a wildfire in the
Shasta-Trinity National Forest was recovering Saturday from severely
burned paws at a South Lake Tahoe wildlife center after a firefighter
with California's state fire agency plucked him from the scorched
landscape Thursday.

The adorable cub has been dubbed Li'l Smokey, a nod to the small Oscar
Mayer sausages as well as the U.S. Forest Service's animated bear,
which is based on an actual baby black bear that was found alone and
injured in the aftermath of a 1950 wildfire in New Mexico.

Animal care officials hope Li'l Smokey can be healed and successfully
returned to the wild.

Details of the rescue came as firefighters continued to make headway
against blazes of historic proportion that have burned more than 1,400
square miles across the state since June 20, mostly from a rash of
lightning strikes.

The fires have burned more acres in California than any single blaze
or series of fires on record in the state, fueled by vegetation that
is "tinder dry and ready to burn" after low winter precipitation and
high temperatures, said Alisha Herring, a spokeswoman for the state
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

But with the destruction have come moments of kindness.

Adam Deem, a forester and firefighter with the state fire agency,
found the injured and dehydrated cub at the Moon Fire, part of the
Shasta-Trinity Lightning Complex of wildfires. After watching the
bear, hearing it cry and determining the mother was nowhere to be
found, Deem said he plucked the cub up and later swaddled him in a
blanket and took him to the command center.

"I knew from looking at him he wasn't going to make it if we didn't
bring him in," Deem said. "I just couldn't let it happen."

While the bear was being treated at the base camp, Deem was "holding
the cub during the entire time there," said state Department of Fish
and Game spokesman Steve Martarano.

"This is a unique one," Martarano said. "I've been in Fish and Game
for 11 years. I can't remember a situation like this one."

The 8 1/2-pound cub was taken to a state facility in Rancho Cordova
before being transferred Friday to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, the only
center of its kind in the state that can rehabilitate bear cubs for
re-release into the wild, Martarano said.

"Thank goodness he had the compassion in his heart for anything that
needs help," said Cheryl Millham, executive director and co-founder of
Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, the animal rehabilitation center where Li'l
Smokey is recuperating.

The cub was given water and intravenous fluids for dehydration,
received antibiotics and had the third-degree burns on all four paws
dressed with bandages, Martarano said. Li'l Smokey also suffered a
small cut above his left eye.

"He's in pretty bad shape," Millham said. "But I don't see any reason
why he can't eventually recuperate and be a nice healthy bear out in
the wild, where he belongs."

The cub ate peaches for his first meal at the rescue center, and is
drinking specially formulated bear milk, Millham said.

Li'l Smokey is a candidate to be returned to the wild because he is a
bear cub, weighs less than 50 pounds and is not dependent on people
for food, Martarano said.

Deem chuckled at the thought of the little cub becoming the public
image for the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

"I think the best scenario is that he be healthy enough to return to
the wild," Deem said. "Either way, I'm sure he'll work himself into
the Cal Fire mythology."


E-mail John Coté at .

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