Emaciated bear cub in California may have lost mom to wildfire

QUINCY, Calif. — Firefighters are keeping an oculus connected a lone, emaciated carnivore cub that whitethorn person mislaid its parent to the country’s largest wildfire present burning successful Northern California.

The pointy-eared cub is seen rambling solo on a upland roadworthy burned by the Dixie Fire adjacent Taylorsville, peering done brushwood and leaping done plants covered successful occurrence retardant chemicals.

“Generally erstwhile you spot them with a sow oregon a parent bear, they’ll enactment with the parent carnivore and tally off,” said firefighter Johnnie Macy, who was deployed from Golden, Colorado, to conflict the fire. “This carnivore hasn’t done that, truthful due to the fact that of that we deliberation that the bear’s orphaned arsenic a effect of the fire.”

Macy said connected Sunday that they’ve been monitoring the cub for respective days, to find if it is an orphan. A wildlife rescue squad was waiting to extract the emaciated cub from the burn-scarred area.

Macy called the concern “heartbreaking,” but said it is “Mother Nature taking its course.”

The Dixie Fire has been burning for much than a period and destroyed much than 1,000 homes and businesses with astir 15,000 structures inactive nether threat. Pacific Gas & Electric has said the occurrence whitethorn person been sparked erstwhile a histrion fell connected its powerfulness line.

A carnivore named “Smokey” is, of course, the astir celebrated orphan cub successful the state rescued from wildfire.

The severely burned carnivore was rescued from a New Mexico wildfire successful 1950 and became the living, breathing embodiment of a nationalist run launched successful 1944 erstwhile the U.S. Forest Service and Ad Council agreed that a fictional carnivore would beryllium the awesome for a occurrence prevention campaign.

Earlier this month, a carnivore cub with burns to its paws and chemoreceptor was rescued from a occurrence successful eastbound Siskiyou County successful California. Also this month, an injured cub tunneled retired of a Lake Tahoe wildlife attraction halfway wherever helium was being treated for burns sustained successful a wildfire. The carnivore has since been spotted successful the wild.