California Firefighters Are Keeping An Eye On An Emaciated, Maybe Orphaned, Bear Cub

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An orphaned bear cub struggles to survive in the area burned by the Dixie Fire in Plumas County, Calif.





Eugene Garcia/AP



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Eugene Garcia/AP





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Thousands of Northern California homes remain threatened, along with wildlife, by the Dixie Fire, the country’s largest wildfire. Firefighters have spotted a solo, possibly orphaned, bear in a burned area.





Eugene Garcia/AP



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Eugene Garcia/AP




Thousands of Northern California homes remain threatened, along with wildlife, by the Dixie Fire, the country’s largest wildfire. Firefighters have spotted a solo, possibly orphaned, bear in a burned area.


Eugene Garcia/AP

The Dixie Fire has been burning for more than a month and destroyed more than 1,000 homes and businesses with nearly 15,000 structures still under threat. Pacific Gas & Electric has said the fire may have been sparked when a tree fell on its power line.

A bear named «Smokey is, of course, the most famous orphan cub in the country rescued from wildfire.

The badly burned bear was rescued from a New Mexico wildfire in 1950 and became the living, breathing embodiment of a national campaign launched in 1944 when the U.S. Forest Service and Ad Council agreed that a fictional bear would be the symbol for a fire prevention campaign.

Earlier this month, a bear cub with burns to its paws and nose was rescued from a fire in eastern Siskiyou County in California. Also this month, an injured cub tunneled out of a Lake Tahoe wildlife care center where he was being treated for burns sustained in a wildfire. The bear has since been spotted in the wild.