Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Bear nursed back to health after suffering severe burns in wildfire shot dead by hunter

Cinder the Bear featured in children's e-book after she was rescued in 2014

Anu Shukla
Friday 14 December 2018 13:53 GMT
Comments
Cinder the Bear was rescued in August 2014
Cinder the Bear was rescued in August 2014 (The Associated Press))

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

A bear cub rescued from a Washington state wildfire in 2014 has been shot and killed by a hunter.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials set out to find the den of the animal nicknamed Cinder the Bear back in September because her radio-transmitting collar stopped working, according to KOMO-TV.

The team had hoped the collar had stopped transmitting because she was holed up for the winter.

Instead, the team found her remains close to where she was set free back in 2015. A hunter had shot her and cut the collar, said department spokesman Rich Beausoleil.

Cinder was last seen alive and healthy by researchers in February 2017 when they checked on her in a den high in the Cascade mountains.

She was originally found under a horse trailer after a wildfire in north-central Washington state’s Methow Valley in July 2014. The blaze destroyed 300 homes and was the largest fire in recorded state history.

Cinder was left with third-degree burns on all four paws – so scorched that she was walking on her elbows. Weighing just 37 pounds at the time, she was discovered in the yard of a house two weeks after the fire swept past.

Her rescue captured global attention as she healed in centres in California and Idaho, doubling her weight within months.

An interactive children’s e-book called “Cinder the Bear” was released on the Apple Book Store, with proceeds benefiting Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care and Idaho Black Bear Rehabilitation, where she was treated.

Cinder was then released in June 2015 alongside an orphaned cub named Kaulana, a younger male cub also injured by wildfires who wouldn’t leave Cinder‘s side.

Kaulana was also found killed by a hunter in 2015, which was within bear hunting season and a legal kill.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in