Li’l Smokey Survives California Wildfires!

REDDING, Calif.—A California firefighter may have saved the life of what could turn out to be the next Smokey Bear!

“Li’l Smokey” is getting the best care possible after being badly burned by the Moon Fire, a blaze that scorched nearly 30,000 acres of forest about 20 miles west of Redding, north of Sacramento.

California continues to be tinder dry from its drought. So far, more than 1 million acres of wild areas have burned in the state since lightning sparked more than 1,700 wildfires in June.

Adam Deem, a forester with Cal Fire, came across the injured bear cub on July 17. Deem was in his truck on a dirt road looking for areas that needed to be repaired from firefighting efforts. “I came around a corner, and this little bear cub was kind of tottering from side to side across the road,” Deem recalls.

The cub was tiny—about the size of a large cat. “He was so small, I thought maybe he was a newborn and was just a little clumsy. I expected the mother to show up any minute,” Deem continues.

The cub climbed a small tree and began calling for its mom. For safety, Deem stayed in his truck—he didn’t want a mad mama bear on his hands. He even let out a few bear cries himself to lure the mom to its cub. Sadly, the mom was gone.

“It’s tragic. A lot of wildlife does die in fires,” Deem points out. “A lot of animals don’t necessarily know which way to go. They’re confused, they’re scared.”

As Deem got closer to the cub, “I could see why he was walking funny—all the pads had burned off the bottoms of his feet,” he says. “It was raw flesh.”

This was the first time Deem ever had the chance to save wildlife injured in a forest fire. The cub scrambled down a hill and into another tree with Deem following close behind. “He’s a wild animal. As soon as I grabbed him…he turned into nothing but claws and teeth,” Deem laughs. The injured cub also let out a terrible yowl.

Swaddling the little cub in a blanket, just like a baby, helped him calm down.

“I thought, he’s wrapped up kind of like those little smokey sausages, so I started calling him ‘Li’l Smokey.’”

Li’l Smokey was whisked off to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, a rehab center that’s been helping California wildlife for 30 years. Weighing in at 81/2 pounds, Li’l Smokey was severely dehydrated and under-weight, and he had third-degree burns to all his paws. Even his claws had burned off!

But Deem says this cub’s definitely a fighter, and things are looking much better. Li’l Smokey has nearly doubled his weight, and his paws are beginning to heal.

If Li’l Smokey’s pads and claws grow back, he might be able to return to the wild as early as January.

But there’s a good chance that Li’l Smokey’s injuries will prevent him from returning to the wild, which means he might become known as the next Smokey Bear, who was rescued from a fire in 1950.

In an amazing coincidence, the original Smokey Bear was also plucked from a tree after being badly injured in a wildfire in New Mexico in 1950.

Young Reporters Set Sights on School

Bummer, summer’s like over, dude! With kids everywhere heading back to school, what kinds of goals do they have for the new school year?

Bear Essential News found out from its dauntless Young Reporters.
Many kids are going to new schools this year.

Reporter Lekha Chesnick recently started at Esperero Canyon Middle School and admits she was a little nervous. “But it all went really well, and I got to meet new people,” Lekha explains. She says that staying on top of things at home will help her do well at school. "I’ve been thinking that I’m going to keep my room clean and that I’m going to get my homework in on time so I don’t get stressed out about it,” she says.

As a reporter, Lekha would love to interview the Jonas Brothers this year.

“I haven’t really gotten to know (the school), yet, but so far it looks like it’s going to be a really challenging but fun year,” says reporter Lexi Ramirez, who started South Valley Jr. High on Aug. 6. “My first goal is that I’d either get all A’s or at least an A in math (her toughest subject),” Lexi explains.

As a Young Reporter, Lexi enjoys finding something in the news or online that’s cool to her. This year, she’d love to interview the Jonas Brothers or BarlowGirl.

Reporter Braxton Barger just started seventh grade at Chandler Prep Academy. “I was excited and nervous, but I think I can do well,” Braxton shares. Like Lexi, he wants to pull good grades but EXPECTS literature and science will be his biggest challenges. To reach his goals, he’s come up with a solid game plan. “I’ll probably take more notes and review them every day,” he says. Braxton also will try to stay organized and keep up with his schoolwork.

As a reporter for Bear Essential News, Braxton says he’s willing to cover anything “as long as it’s interesting to me and would interest other people.”

Reporter Jeffrey Northcutt is a solid student at Ironwood Elementary. He’s used to getting good grades and wants to find ways to help his school this year. “I want to do as many afterschool things as I can, like student council,” Jeffrey explains. “I’d like to come up with (some) cool ideas—it’s about helping your school.” To start, Jeffrey and the council might start a recycling program or find ways that the school can save water and energy. As a reporter, he wants to help animals get adopted. He plans on covering stories about FAIR, a local animal rescue group.

Reporter Lisbet Jauregui started at Liberty Traditional School last week. “I’m trying to get an exceeding (score) in writing, so I’m kind of focusing on my writing skills,” she says. To reach her goal, she plans to write as much as she can, especially for Bear Essential. “As a reporter, I love writing about education. People always talk about it if the schools do something wrong—they never actually look at the good side of education,” she says. This year, Lisbet would love to interview the president or Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.

Phelps Nabs Record 8 Gold Medals!

BEIJING—In China, eight is a lucky number. That’s why the Beijing Olympics opened on 8-8-08.

American swimming sensation Michael Phelps also thinks eight is great after he and his medley relay teammates set a new world record to give Phelps his eighth gold medal of the Summer Games!

His haul of eight golds and eight record-breaking swims makes Phelps arguably the best athlete ever in Olympics history. After practicing every stroke for countless hours in the pool, Phelps came to Beijing ready to take on the best swimmers in the world.

He knew that if he could swim his best, he knew he had a shot at breaking the single-Olympic record of seven gold medals set by swimmer Mark Spitz 36 years ago.

Phelps swam five individual events and three relays. One by one he came out on top with record-times. And for the relays, he and his teammates set new world records, too. By the seventh event, the 100m butterfly, he was six for six. In a dramatic come-from-behind win, Phelps accelerated to the wall to win by just 1/100th of a second! His effort fell short of a world record, but set a new Olympic record. His record-breaking eighth gold came on Aug. 17 when he and his teammates won the 4 x 100m medley relay in world-record time.

“The help from these guys (his relay teammates) made it all possible. “It’s amazing to be a part of,” Phelps told NBC News right after earning his eighth gold medal. He calls his victories in China’s Water Cube the best experience he’s ever had. “It’s the whole thing—every race from one to another. It was a great experience for me, and something that I’ll have forever,” he concluded. From his two Olympics so far, Phelps has racked up 14 gold medals!

Phelps hopes to inspire kids everywhere to jump into his sport to energize competitive swimming in the United States.

Is Shaq Sinking Suns?

There's a new big man in town; the Phoenix Suns are betting he's the spark they need to win the playoffs.

One of the biggest stars in the NBA universe, Shaquille O'Neal, is now wearing purple and orange. And both Shaq and the Suns have a lot to prove. Shaq, who just turned 36 and has endured knee and hip injuries, wants to show he's still a big force in the NBA. His critics say that the Diesel is too old and too slow for a high-octane, blazingly fast team like the Suns.

During the regular season, the Suns are one of the toughest teams in the West. And while fans love the Suns' exciting and high-scoring brand of basketball, led by two-time League MVP point guard Steve Nash, the team has never won the NBA Finals.

The Suns believe that Shaq is the piece that's been missing. At 7 feet 1 inch tall and 325 pounds, Shaq gives the Suns a true center who grabs rebounds, plays tough defense and passes the ball well. Up till now, Amare Stoudamire has been stuck playing center for the Suns, even though he's really one of the best power forwards in the game. With Shaq in at center, Stoudamire is freed up to do what he does best!

"Psychologically it really helps us out. Guys are much more willing to go to the boards and fight around the basket with Shaq in there," explains Head Coach Mike D'Antoni.

Fans love Shaq's superstar qualities. The big guy has won four NBA Finals and was MVP for three of them! But the Suns have lost their winning ways since Shaq started playing on Feb. 20. In the trade for Shaq, the Suns gave up All-Star forward Shawn Marion, who said he wanted to be traded at the beginning of the season. For years, Marion had been a clutch scorer. As of press time, the Suns have won just two of their last six games and have fallen to fifth place in the Western Conference. Fans wonder whether it's growing pains with the big guy or could it be a bad fit?

'Doomsday Vault' Opens for Business!

SVALBARD ARCHIPELAGO, Norway-Imagine a bank that's so far north that polar bears outnumber the people living there! The bank is located on Norway's Svalbard archipelago just 620 miles from the North Pole. As you may have guessed, it's cold there. During winter's around-the-clock darkness, temperatures can fall to -22° Fahrenheit.

The bank was blasted into the side of an arctic mountain and has reinforced concrete walls to help protect its valuable deposits from natural disasters, global warming and even a nuclear explosion. Welcome to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault-also called the "Doomsday Vault" by the press!

You can find seedbanks all over the world. Native Seeds/SEARCH is a seedbank here in Arizona. Its mission is to protect the diversity of local seed used in farming and their wild relatives. "We have nearly 2,000 varieties in our seedbank, mainly corn, beans and squash," explains Carolyn Owens, who works on grants for the seedbank. "Just like the seedbank in Norway, the seeds need to be kept cold, so they're stored in a freezer," she says. Seeds for the bank come from southwestern states and northern Mexico.

Seedbanks help protect our food supply from the "what ifs" in life-like what if there's drought; what if a disease attacks a certain kind of wheat, or what if global warming changes what can grow around here?

Modern farming has led to fewer and fewer varieties of crops. This has brought about many varieties of food crops being lost forever, and Owens says it's alarming. "It's just more cost effective to grow a single variety...but you don't know what disease is going to come along down the road," she says. A disease could wipe out an entire variety of a crop, leading to food shortages. But if there are enough other seed varieties, like wheat for instance, one of those types of wheat may turn out to be resistant to the disease.

Owens points out that a lot of seedbanks are in politically unstable areas like Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, and have been looted or destroyed. In the Phillipines, a flood wiped out the country's seedbank.

That's why the Svalbard Global Seedbank was created-to protect the diversity of seeds no matter what happens in the world. Countries can "deposit" different varieties of seeds. If a disaster jeopardizes crops, the country can make a "withdrawal" of seeds.

The vault was built by Norway at a cost of about $3 million. Because seeds are so small, the "Doomsday Vault" can hold up to 2 billion seeds!