Li'l Smokey, the barely rescued

By Tami Abdollah Los Angeles Times Adam Deem was driving through burned brush in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest west of Redding, Calif., when he spotted a black-bear cub teetering in the middle of the road. It was Thursday morning, weeks into the state's fire siege. Deem, a forester with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, noticed that the cub's fur was singed. Its paws looked badly burned. Worried, Deem mimicked the cub's cry to try to draw the mama bear close. "He was crying, and between the two of us (crying), if the mother was anywhere nearby, she would have come," he said. Deem scooped up the bear by the scruff. "He was fighting, trying to bite and scratch me, and I tried to keep out of his way," he said. Deem drove one-handed to camp, where medics hooked the dehydrated cub up to an IV for... [read full story]