Smokey Junior

Boo Boo Bear

Firefighters have rescued a black bear cub whose paws were burned on the Mustang Complex on the Salmon River in Idaho. They nicknamed him “Boo Boo” after discovering the cub Saturday near a boat launch. The little guy’s paws were blistered; a crew scouted for the mother bear but couldn’t find her.

Boo Boo Bear
Boo Boo Bear – photo by Karen Dunlap, USFS

KVAL News reported that an Idaho Fish and Game Officer and a member of the Whiskey Flats Crew took the cub to the Garden Valley Ranger Station. They figure the cub, at about 25 lbs., hadn’t eaten for several days. The cub will be re-homed at the non-profit Snowden Wildlife Sanctuary in McCall, Idaho.

The 149,000-acre Mustang Complex was lightning-ignited over the weekend of July 28-29. Five of the fires (Mustang, Broomtail, Roan, Cayuse, and East Butte) burned together over the next four weeks. The incident command post is about a mile north of the community of North Fork, and the IMT says containment will be difficult in the absence of substantial precipitation. The complex is about 14 percent contained, and firefighters have been challenged by exceptionally dry fuels, rugged terrain, and frequent adverse fire weather conditions.

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