Did you know the cartoon Smokey Bear is based upon an actual baby black bear that was found alone, charred, and scared after a devastation wildfire burned through New Mexico?
On a spring day in the year 1950 in the Capitan Mountains, an operator in one of the fire towers to the north of the Capitans spotted smoke and called the location into the nearest ranger station. The first crew discovered a major fire being swept along the ground between the trees. Word spreat rapidly and more crews reported to help. As soon as they contained the fire to one spot, the wind would push it across the lines. During one one of the lulls in firefighting, a report of a lonely bear cub who had been seen wandering ner the fireline was reported. The men left him alone because they thought the mother bear might come for him.
Nearby, the little cub had been caught in the path of the fire and had not fared. He had taken refuge in a tree that was now nothing but a charred smoking snag. His climb had saved his life but left him badly burned on the paws and hind legs. The firefighters had removed the little bear cub from the burned tree, but they did not know what to do with him. A rancher, who had been helping the firefighters, agreed to take the cub home.
The news about the little bear spread swiffly throughout New Mexico. Soon the United Press and Associated Press picked up the story and broadcast in nationwide. The State Game Warden wrote an official letter to the Chief of the Forest Service, presnting the cub to the agency with the understanding that the small bear would be dedicated to a publicity program of fire prevention and conservation. The go-ahead was given to send the bear to Washington, DC, where he found a home at the National Zoo, becoming the living symbol of Smokey Bear.