Unveiled - Humboldt Magazine - Humboldt State University

Alum Sticks Neck Out to Save Li’l Smokey
[ News in Brief ]
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW AND MAN-
AGING timber harvests might be Adam
Deem’s main job duties at the California
Department of Forestry & Fire Protection,
but when much of the state’s wildlands
are engulfed in fire, the HSU alum (‘99)
hops to action. Last year, during California’s
worst fire season on record, Deem
received national media coverage after
reports surfaced of his heart-warming
rescue of a badly injured bear cub.
In July of 2008, Deem was driving
through burned hillsides in the Shasta-Trinity
National Forest west of Redding, Calif. He
was reviewing the fire suppression efforts,
looking for any environmental problems
that may have resulted, when he spotted
what appeared to be a stranded bear cub.
“I thought it would be a good photo op,” he
says, so he snapped a few pictures from the
safety of his pickup truck, out of reach from
any nearby mother bears.
The cub was headed into a tree when
Deem realized it had been badly burned.
“His paws were burned right down to the
raw flesh,” he says. “I got on the phone to
get a game warden out, and that’s when
he decided to escape.”
Not wanting the cub to get away, where
he wouldn’t last long in the wild, Deem
imitated the cub’s distressed cries in an
attempt to lure both the cub and the cub’s
mother. When mama bear failed to arrive,
Deem grabbed the cub and loaded him in
his truck. “He fought me the whole way,”
Deem says. “I didn’t really want to take it to
this level, but it was obvious he wouldn’t
survive without some intervention.”
Since his rescue, Li’l Smokey recovered
at the Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care rescue
and rehabilitation center in South Lake
Tahoe before being released back into the
wild last winter. Thanks in part to Deem’s
heroic efforts in saving Li’l Smokey, he
was awarded Firefighter of the Year by the
American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals.
Deem has been fighting fires for years.
As a youth, he volunteered with Samoa,
Calif.’s fire department. Through HSU’s
Forestry Department, Deem saw a way
he could be involved with forestry issues
and earn a degree. He and his wife are
currently working on a children’s book,
Saving Li’l Smokey, which is due out in
the next few months.
For updates
on Li’l Smokey and information
on the forthcoming book, visit
www.lilsmokey.net
PHOTO COURTESY OF ADAM DEEM
Firefighter Adam Deem (‘99) rescued Li’l Smokey after spotting the bear cub in a scorched tree. Deem imitated the cub’s distressed cries in an
attempt to reunite the cub with his mother.
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