This is the grave of the real Smokey Bear. It is in a corner of the grounds of the Smokey Bear museum in Capitan, New Mexico. A large stone marks Smokey's gravesite under the big pine tree. The marker says: "This is the resting place of the first living Smokey Bear. In 1950 when Smokey was a tiny cub, wildfire burned his forest home in the nearby Capitan Mountains of the Lincoln National Forrest. Firefighters found the badly burned cub clinging to a blackened tree and saved his life. In June, 1950, the cub was flow to our Nation's Capital to become the living symbol of wildfire prevention and wildlife conservation. After 25 years, he was replaced by another orphaned black bear from the Lincoln National Forest."
10 comments:
I had that book! About the first baby bear and how he was found clinging to a tree. I still remember the pictures of his little paws in bandages...
I have stood at that same place. I can remember that Be Bo got so upset when he realized that Smokey was dead and that he was buried right there.
how cool.
and how cute... MICKEY Bear... :o) awww
Oh, Smokey. I loved his deep, rumbly voice.
Mickey Bear wasn't so cute when Rach hung him from a noose over the toilet in the guest bathroom of our parsonage.
By the way, do you think that Smokey Bear sign is fire retardant? (sinister laugh as a sulfuric aroma wafts slowly through the air)
Oh my gosh!! I forgot all about the noose in the guest bathroom. That was there for years! (Annoyed the hell out of visiting evangelists. I guess that's why my parents never made me take it down.)
I made a noose for tigger and kept him up for a while. We have so much in common.
Ahhh, little smokey. I actually didn't know it was a real bear!
Awww!!! I always liked Smokey the Bear too. (You hung him from a noose over the toilet?)
Do you remember the old jingle:
Smokey the Bear, Smokey the Bear
Prowlin' and a-growlin' and a-sniffin' the air.
He can find a fire before it starts to flame.
That's why they call him Smokey
That is how he got his name.
Oh, Capitan, New Mexico. The only good thing about the trip from Albuquerque to Roswell was the return trip through Capitan. My hubby use to go quiet often to Roswell for the State Defense Force and I would go along for the trip. Until I realized that the city of Roswell was a dead town that someone forgot to bury. Maybe you should do a tumbstone for that city. I do miss New Mexico.
My daughter was so upset when Smokey died (in Washington DC where he was in the zoo) She cried all afternoon. She was about 8 or 9.
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