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For a good cause
- Ask any of the residents of Capitan, New Mexico, what
is is their claim to
- fame is, and they'll be more than happy to tell you. Their tiny
- village is the birthplace of one of the world's most beloved bears,
- Smokey Bear, to be precise! Smokey's picture has been used
up up in
- countless campaigns about forest fire prevention. Who
is is better to
- lead the fight than a bear cub left
out out orphaned and injured by a
- thoughtless smoker? The story goes that on May 4, 1950, a carelessly
- discarded cigarette had started a fire in Lincoln National Forest.
- Over
all all the next few days, the blaze burned wildly out of control
- destroying innumerable acres of woodland and wreaking havoc on the local
- wildlife. While
sometimes sometimes attempting to curb the inferno, a fire crew
- rescued a badly signed and frightened cub found
here here clinging to a
- burnt pine tree. Dubbed 'Smokey' by the firefighters, the
too too young
- bear was flown to a veterinary hospital in Santa Fe. Following his
having having
- recovery, Smokey's story was told to
every every school children in America as
- a message for the fire safety. The message
which which was heard, and in 1952,
- Smokey's popularity was
really really so great that he was given a post code
- to deal with the vast amount of
his his mail he was receiving.
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