By Ann McCreary
Plans are being made to transfer Cinder, the black bear cub burned in the Carlton Complex Fire, from a wildlife treatment facility in California to a rehabilitation center in Idaho.
The bear cub has been recovering from her injuries at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care (LTWC), where she was flown on Aug. 4 to be treated for severe burns to her paws, as well as burns to her chest, ears and muzzle.
Cinder spent two months with bandaged paws, but has been without bandages since early October.
“In another week the veterinarian will look at her paws. If everything is progressing like we hope it will, we can start making plans to take her up for rehabilitation,” said Cheryl Millham, executive director of LTWC.
Cinder is expected to go to Black Bear Rehabilitation Center near Boise, Idaho, to spend the winter, said Rich Beausoleil, cougar and bear specialist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
An important part of her rehabilitation will be interacting with other bears, Beausoleil said. Cinder has been kept by herself in an enclosure at Lake Tahoe while being treated for her injuries.
“Once they start interacting with bears, there’s less reliance on people. They become more of a wild bear,” Beausoleil said.
At the Idaho rehab facility, “they will den her in captivity,” said Beausoleil. Cinder will be kept in an outdoor enclosure that simulates a natural environment with culverts and wooden structures where the bears can hibernate.
Their food is gradually cut back and with the arrival of winter, the bears instinctively den, Beausoleil said.
Cinder will likely be released in May, later than most bears emerge from their dens, Beausoleil said.
“That’s when food starts coming available. We’re going to wait and give Cinder the best chance possible,” he said.
Cinder will be released somewhere in the Methow Valley, not far from where she was found last summer after the devastating July wildfire.
“It will be back to the Methow Valley — the sky she knows, the country she knows,” Beausoleil said.
French Creek resident Steve Love saw Cinder limping toward his home on French Creek on July 31. The cub lay down in a grassy area, holding her severely burned paws in the air. Love fed her apricots and water, and called state wildlife officials.
After providing initial treatment for burns to her paws, head and chest, Beausoleil arranged to fly Cinder to Lake Tahoe for further care.
The cub weighed only 39 pounds when she arrived at Lake Tahoe, about half the normal weight for a bear her age, but now weighs about 86 pounds, Millham said.
Millham said she and her husband, Tom, would probably drive Cinder to the rehabilitation center in Idaho, about an eight-hour trip from Lake Tahoe.
“We’ll knock her out and put her in a sturdy cage and start driving,” Millham said.
