SPOKANE — A bear cub found badly burned in a massive Washington wildfire two years ago is surviving her first winter in the wild, but the orphaned cub released with her has been killed.
Rich Beausoleil with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says radio-tracking collars shows the black bear nicknamed Cinder is nesting like other females her age. But the male cub that Cinder bonded with during rehabilitation in Idaho was killed by a hunter in October.
KREM-TV reports it was within bear hunting season and a legal kill.
Cinder was found under a horse trailer after in the 2014 Carleton Complex fire, her paws so scorched that she was pulling herself along by her elbows. She healed after stints at a California wildlife center and the Idaho Black Bear Rehabilitation center near Boise. She was released in a central Washington forest in June.
The younger male cub nicknamed Kaulana who wouldn’t leave Cinder’s side was released with her.
