A burned bear cub has been rescued and is on the mend after a Washington homeowner found the seriously injured animal lying in his driveway near Wenatchee last week.
Steve Love, of Methow Valley, told KOMO-TV that he first spotted the cub outside his house after being alerted to it by his dog and horse. The black bear, who has since been nicknamed Cinder, was severely burned and initially backed away after making what Love described as "menacing sounds." The cub was reportedly injured in the Carlton Complex Fire that ripped through the area last week, decimating more than 250,000 acres.
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"Later in the evening, she was lying down making pitiful whimpering noises," Love told KOMO-TV. "I got about six feet away, sat down and talked to it in a soothing way, telling it things would be okay. It seemed to make it feel better. It stopped making the noises."
Love then contacted the state Fish and Wildlife Office, which rescued Cinder and transported her to South Lake Tahoe, California, on Monday for burn treatment.
"All four paws were third degree burns," state biologist Rich Beausoleil told KOMO-TV. "She has some burns to her face and arms and chest. Those were relatively minor and I think that will grow back. It's the four feet we're worried about."
Cinder, an 18-month-old cub who weighs about 40 pounds, is now recovering at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, which raises, rehabilitates, and releases
orphaned and injured animals, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.
"[Cinder's future] will depend entirely on how the procedures go with the nursing care that we give her and see how she recovers from that care," Lake Tahoe Wildlife co-founder Tom Millham told the newspaper. "Burns, whether you're a bear or a person, are very painful. We have no idea on much medical expenses will be."
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