Smokey Bear made his first appearance on a wildfire ... cub was sent to reside at the National Zoo in Washington as a real-life embodiment of Smokey. Lauded as a hero, kids and adults alike ...

Both the Smokey Bear character and the real life Smokey hail from Washington, D.C. In 1950, an orphaned bear cub was rescued from a wildfire in New Mexico and brought to Washington to live at the ...

David Pollack / Corbis via Getty Images But I actually learned recently that Smokey isn't a fictional character, and started out as a real bear with ... escaping with his life but badly burned ...

While Smokey Bear today is most commonly seen in picture form — or as a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade — there was, at one point, a real-life bear that was known as "Smokey Bear." ...

Was there ever a real-life Smokey Bear? Smokey Bear was also a real-life bear who was the victim of a wildfire as a young cub, according to the Smithsonian Institution. In 1950, a wildfire broke ...

As Smokey Bear's popularity grew due to his positive animal traits, his story took a real-life turn in New Mexico with the discovery of an orphaned cub. In 1950, firefighters in Capitan ...

But the most popular Smokey incarnation was as a real bear. It was an American black bear cub that was rescued in 1950 from a 17,000-acre forest fire in Lincoln National Forest in south-central ...

From his humble beginnings as a fictional character to his transformation into a real-life survivor and national icon, Smokey Bear has become one of the most recognizable figures in American history.

DCNR’s Westley Stout spoke on the history of Smokey Bear, who was a real bear saved from a forest fire as a cub. Children attending the library’s birthday party received coloring books and ...

While Smokey Bear was the star of the CFFP campaign, it wasn’t until 1950 that there was a real-life Smokey Bear introduced to the public. In Capitan, New Mexico, in the aftermath of a forest ...