Bear cub rescued from wildfire dies from injuries

Rob Drinkwater · The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 17, 2025 7:58 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

The relation of a carnivore rescue enactment successful Manitoba delivered bittersweet quality connected Saturday astir a tiny, seven-pound achromatic carnivore cub that had been rescued with burns to her paws, chemoreceptor and lips from a wood fire.

Judy Stearns of Black Bear Rescue Manitoba said the pistillate cub, whose advancement was being followed by galore supporters connected the group's Facebook page, hadn't survived the night.

"She was specified a small combatant and she had flooded truthful overmuch with this ordeal she went through," Stearns said successful a telephone interview.

"It indispensable person been conscionable terrifying due to the fact that to person mislaid her parent is 1 thing, but past the trauma of the fume and past the symptom from her burns, truthful it's truly bittersweet she didn't marque it."

Earlier this week the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet, northeast of Winnipeg, was deed by a occurrence that destroyed 28 homes and cottages and near 2 radical dead.

Nearly 20 different fires are burning successful the state and the Manitoba authorities has closed immoderate provincial parks.

Stearns said the cub was recovered hobbling backmost and distant connected a roadworthy successful the Lac du Bonnet country by idiosyncratic progressive successful the occurrence battle. There was nary parent carnivore successful sight, and truthful she was brought to the carnivore rescue by the province's earthy resources staff.

She was coughing and wheezing from fume inhalation and had singed fur on her back, Stearns said, indicating she whitethorn person gone underneath thing that was burning.

The cub was being called "Sayen," which Stearns said was of Indigenous root and means "lovely" oregon "sweet." 

Stearns said she was connected the bladed side, which isn't antithetic for a precise young carnivore and indicated she whitethorn person had siblings.

"Despite it all, she was alert and she did person immoderate energy, due to the fact that she wanted immoderate beverage … But chiefly she wanted to sleep. She was exhausted. She slept astir of the clip for her archetypal 24 hours," said Stearns.

"But the prognosis from the vet was it's going to beryllium deed oregon miss."

Stearns said Sayen was the archetypal cub the rescue received that was a occurrence victim. She said animals typically either outrun fires oregon succumb to them, but Sayen made it retired due to the fact that she'd made it to a roadworthy and was recovered by a person.

She said the cub's decease highlights the dangers that wildlife look from fires.

"You get the slower animals similar porcupines, they can't fly the fire. And this clip of twelvemonth it's particularly devastating due to the fact that each the small young ones are born. You get squirrels successful their nests and small rabbits' nests connected the ground, you get cubs similar this and they're conscionable decimated," Stearns said.

The rescue posted a representation connected Facebook aft Sayen's death, showing Stearns' husband, Roger, with the babe carnivore successful his arms.

The station explained helium was taking the dormant cub extracurricular "to fto the upwind transportation her tone away."