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These past few days have been very quiet with regard to Li’l Smokey. However, this is what has been happening.

On Sunday night, while we were doing Smokey’s every other day scheduled change, we weighed him for the first time since Wednesday.  Hooray!!!  He has officially doubled his weight since coming to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.  His now weighs 17 pounds and 4 ounces.

When Dr. Willitts checked him on Sunday night, he saw more improvement on Smokey’s paws, but cautioned us that this is still a very lengthy process and there is still a long way to go before we will know whether or not he will grow the proper type of skin (pads) to be released.

Personally, I have had many people ask me about Smokey’s future.  My answer has been and remains this: California Fish and Game turned Smokey over to us for one reason.  And that was to take care of his wounds, REHABILITATE him and prepare him for his release back into the wild.

We have been doing this with bears for eight years, and have successfully released every bear cub entrusted to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care by Fish and Game. The only difference between the other 16 (or so) bear cubs and Smokey is that none of them came in with any injuries. But they all have the same thing in common.  They were all orphaned.

We are set on preparing Smokey to be released back to the wild as soon as he is physically capable. That is our only goal.

Now.  On a good note.  Tonight, August 14th, Smokey, along with Dr. Willitts and several of our staff and volunteers, and Smokey’s rescuer, Adam Deem, are scheduled to be on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.  It airs on the west coast at 6pm, Pacific Daylight Time.  We urge that you watch and see Li’l Smokey.

For now, that is all the news we have. We'll report more when we have more.

On Friday, when Li'l Smokey had his bandages changed, we weighed him in at 16 pounds and 8 ounces.  Overall, he is doing as well as can be expected.  His paws are definitely improving.  (We hope to have updated pictures of the paws early next week.)  He is starting to grow fur and eyelashes around the right eye, which sustained burn from the Moon Fire.  He is doing well with the booties, in that we have not had to take him out of routine since early this week.  This could mean that he is getting used to them (NOT!), or it could mean that we are realizing that he doesn't want them on and we have learned how to put them on so he can't get them off! THAT is more of a reality.  Just to remind you, he has his dressings changed every other day for the time being.

Today is Li'l Smokey's Anniversary. Three weeks ago today he arrived at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care. He has grown!  He is eating!  He is healing!  All three are good.  We moved him into his new home on Monday and he is starting to get used to it.  We now have two closed circuit camera's on him, thanks to Ken Spaulding from Harrah's Tahoe. In addition, Ken set up our new surveillance system, so we now have more camera options, not only for Li'l Smokey, but for the rest of the animals we have here as well, including the other four bears we're currently rehabbing. 

Today is Smokey's day to have his bandages changes and see what progress he has made.  So, we will have more medical information for you tomorrow, assuming we have something to report. 

Well, Li'l Smokey is getting some "Travelin Time" in these days. And all of his traveling have been within the confines of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.

Last week, and for the previous two weeks, he was stuck upstairs, in LTWC's clinic, awaiting his daily changing of dressings and bandaging. Then, a breakthrough, he moved downstairs and outside!  We put him in the Mew, where we had constructed a temporary structure for him. Would you believe this little guy was just not appreciative? He wanted to move again, so he began to dig, out of this nice new enclosure, with carpeting and white walls, outside in the fresh air and all. No gratitude.

To prevent him from digging out, we placed mason blocks under the carpeting. When we left, he promptly pulled up the carpeting (all with his booties on, mind you), and finally realized that he wasn't going to get through this hard stuff.

The temporary enclosure in the Mew was 4' by 8', so, we moved him again, to a more permanent housing.  Now, we put him in a cell! Well, he's not really in jail, but that is what we call the cubicles in our "Fawn Isolation Cage."  It is made of concrete walls, with a drain in each cell.  The area he's in now is 5' x 9', so it is a little bigger than the Mew's enclosure.  We made a ramp for him so he has the ability to climb about 3 feet to a platform, but, thus far, he has decided not to trek that far up!

The really good news from yesterday?  Well, after we checked Smokey at 7am in the morning, we discovered that he had removed the bootie from his right front foot. That wasn't the good news.  We called Dr. Willitts at home, fortunately, before he had left for work.  We informed him of the situation and asked if he could stop by on his way to work and do the bandaging now. He told us to go ahead and get Smokey knocked out so he could start upon his arrival.  We did so and he was able to get the bandages on in record time. Now -- the really good news: Smokey's weight. We know you've been waiting for a report on how his weight was doing, so here it is.

He is now (as of yesterday morning at 7:30am) 16 pounds and 4 ounces.  Probably sometime this week, he will reach 17 pounds, which means that he will have doubled his weight since arriving at LTWC.

The paws are coming along nicely.  In fact, we took a picture of a normal bear cub paw on Sunday, when we did some blood work and exams on the new cubs that came in the past week. So today's pictures will show you the latest picture of one of Smokey's paws, and a picture of a healthy paw. And, if you look a little lower on this page, you will see a picture of Smokey's paw when he first arrived. Progress!   

Our apologies for not getting you updated on Li'l Smokey's condition the past two days. On Sunday, Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care held their Annual Open House, where we invite the public to come into the area and see - firsthand - how and where we rehabilitate all of the hundreds of birds and animals we care for every year. Our day starts at 6am and doesn't get over until late that evening. Then on Monday, we were busy cleaning up and putting everything back the way it was before the Open House so it is more functional.

On Saturday, Smokey had his dressings changed and was examined by Dr. Willitts. The doctor proclaimed that the treatment is doing well enough that we no longer need to change the dressings every day day, but can now drop the frequency down to every other day! In our opinion, this was a major accomplishment.  Not only for Li'l Smokey, because he absolutely hates this process, but for those of us who have to put him through this ordeal.  So, good news on that part.

Another bit of good news is that Dr. Willitts does see some good regeneration in Smokey's front paws. The front paws were burned to a lesser degree than the rear, but remember, all four paws have second and third degree burns. Dr. Willitts feels they are coming along adequately, but it is still way too early to tell if they will be completely healed.

After the changing of the dressing ritual, we took Li'l Smokey out to his new temporary home in the left side of our mew. (A "mew" is a cage for raptors, or meat-eating birds, such as eagles, hawks and owls, but ours was currently unoccupied.)

This gave him a chance to be outside, yet still accessible for his treatment. When his cage was first opened up, he wasn't quite sure what to make of this new enviromnent.  But it didn't take him long to get out and start nosing around. He was offered some of his favorite dishes, such as wheatgrass and pears. Of course, he snubbed his nose at these because he wanted to investigate his new surroundings.  After a while, though, his appetite got the best of him and he realized that food is the better part of valor!

As I mentioned, Sunday was our Annual Open House. We know what you're thinking. How can these people see Smokey when we don't even let the television cameras in?  Well, the difference is that no one saw him -- face to face! Instead, they could watch him via a closed circuit television. We'd like to thank Frank's TV of South Lake Tahoe for donating a 50" television so the Open House visitors could watch Smokey in his new home.

Of course, most of the time, Smokey did what most little bear cubs do -- sleep. But, when he woke up, he was moving around the contained area to the crowd's delight.

We had over 900 people come to LTWC's Open House this year, the second most in our history. Our board of directors would like to thank all of those who attended to make this such a success and, of course, we could not put on this event each year, were it not for our wonderful corps of volunteers who tirelessly would take groups around the compound to show them what and how we rehab wildlife at LTWC.

Oh, by the way!  Since we got Li'l Smokey in to our center for recovery and rehabilitation, we also received two more bear cubs for rehab.  That makes a total of five cubs which will be rehabbing with us for the next five to six months. Of course, all of the other cubs will most likely be released in January or February, but we feel Li'l Smokey will be with us for a longer period of time.  As Dr. Willitts reminded us, "If a human received burns this bad, they would be in the hospital for two or three months, then begin a rehabilitation program!"

Okay, that's your Li'l Smokey Update for Tuesday, August 5, 2008.  We will try to get some new pictures of him today for your viewing pleasure tomorrow.  We are working to get the new security camera system accesible for online video-streaming. So, hopefully, before too long, you will be able to see Smokey on your computers at home. 

Not much to report from yesterday with Smokey. Friday was pretty much a normal day with him - about as much as normal can be!

But, there is one thing we must mention. We have received literally HUNDREDS of e-mails, encouraging us, thanking us, offering suggestions, offering help and making donations in the past two weeks - all because of Li'l Smokey.

He has become an international celebrity in a very short period of time.  On Thursday, we had three television stations here to video the procedure that Dr. Kevin Willitts performs on Smokey daily. It is not pretty, but it is mandatory that we carry out these procedures to have any hope of healing his skin successfully, which will allow us to prepare him for his release back into the wild.

On Friday, Dr. Willitts (owner, Alpine Animal Hospital in South Lake Tahoe and President of the Board of Directors of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care) and Cheryl Millham (Executive Director, LTWC) were on a Capital Public Radio (KXJZ 90.9, Sacramento), talking about the progress of Li'l Smokey and more specifically the use of honey as one of the remedies on the cub's paws. Click here to listen to the broadcast.

Smokey's appetite is still subject to his approval.  We usually will offer him a variety of 10 to 12 different choices before he agrees with the three or four which will appease his palate. You know how these movie stars are!

It is very rewarding for us, Smokey's caregivers, to receive so many well wishers around the country and around the world.  We really didn't realize just how far Smokey's reach extends until we receive letters, phone calls and e-mails from you, telling us that you constantly read the updates on his progress and are praying for his well being.  That, by itself, is enough for us to make sure that we do everything in our power to do the best thing for him.  He has united this big, wide world into a lot of people who have a common concern. And that concern is Li'l Smokey. 

We thank you for all of your comments and we ask you to continue with them.

On Thursday, July 31, CBS International was one of the three stations which videotaped the procedure.  I asked the gentleman when he expected his story to 'hit' his service areas.  He said, probably next Thursday or Friday. He added that we should be prepared to have our web site crash because you will be getting so many hits. Now, that is reaching people!

Please ask your friends and relatives to check in on Li'l Smokey's updates.  We are very proud to be the ones chosen to care for him and our number one goal is to see this little guy recover and get released back into the wild -- where he belongs!

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

Yesterday, Li'l Smokey had his first full exam in a week. Dr. Kevin Willitts changed Smokey's bandages on all four paws which have second and third degree burns. Dr. Willitts saw no major difference among the instructed Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care volunteers to continue with using the four different methods to treat the damage to the cub's paws.  He said that all paws were making progress and saw no major difference from one method over another.

He also said that this will be a long ordeal.  He does not know when the scheduled bandage changes will be adjusted from the current every day to every other day or every third day.  That will be determined if and when it just does not need to be done every day.  Right now, he said the dressings still need to be done daily.

He also made it very clear that due to the extensive damage, he does not have high hopes of having the paws heal adequately enough to allow Smokey to be returned back to the wild. He is not ruling it out, but says the odds are not with the cub. Still, LTWC volunteers are working on Smokey daily as if he will be returned to the wild eventually.

At today's weigh in, Smokey tipped the scale at an even 15 pounds, 6 1/2 pounds more than when he arrived on Friday, July 18th.

Sorry that we missed the update yesterday - Li'l Smokey kept us more than a little busy! At about 10:00pm Monday night, Cheryl (LTWC's Executive Director) went upstairs to check on the cub and make sure he had some food for the night.  Well, to her surprise, she noticed that he had chewed off the bandage on his left front foot.

Cheryl quickly called down to Tom (LTWC's Secretary-Treasurer) and together, they got him out of the cage, gave him a small dose of anesthesia, and redressed the foot. The next morning, it was still on - so far, so good.

However, around noon, he took off the right front dressing.  By this time, one of our volunteers had shown up with some "booties" that she had ordered from a local pet store. 

It was time for us to do his daily bandage change, so we went through the entire procecure and, this time, we went over the new bandages with the new booties. Smokey had a little trouble getting used to them, but was soon walking around with little difficulty. 

He is still eating fairly well, and he now weighs 14 pounds and 1 ounce!! He has gained over 5 1/2 pounds since arriving at LTWC on July 18th.  The picture is of him eating one of his favorites, wheat grass.
 
More tomorrow!

He's getting a little picky with the foods he likes. What he may have liked last week, he didn't want anything to do with today.  So, we keep trying different things until we find something he likes that will help him gain some weight. 

Still has good circulation in the paws.  Dr. Willitts will perform a physical exam on Thursday, July 31st.  So, by Thursday night, we should have a real update for you on Smokey's condition.

Click on the image to see a photo of Li'l Smokey standing up!

Today, Little Smokey hit the 12lb mark. That makes a gain of 3-1/2lbs in one week since arriving at LTWC!

We offer him a variety of fruit to eat. First, he drinks the juice. Then, "Well okay, if I have to eat the stuff too, then I will!"

He still has his bandages changed daily. He's very physical when we take him out of the cage for these daily treatments. We still perform all four treatment methods each day. Next Thursday, when Dr. Willitts gives Smokey his full examination, he'll determine if any of the four are doing better or not as well as the others.

Li'l Smokey is now known internationally! In addition to Canada, Smokey has received well wishes from Surrey in Great Britain. And he continues to receive greetings each day from many people across this great land of ours. We're sure that if he could talk, he would be very grateful for everyone's concern over his health and his healing.

Li'l Smokey continues to show good signs during his healing and recovery process. Today, we are happy to report that the cub has gained almost 3 1/2lbs since arriving at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care last Friday!

LTWC volunteers and staff are continuing to change the dressings on all four paws - every day - using four different, accepted burn treatment methods on each of the paws.

Currently, Smokey is eating, drinking, and 'acting' like a little 'wild' cub. LTWC would like to thank EVERYONE who has offered suggestions, made a financial contribution or just wanted to wish Smokey well. 

PHOTOS: Li'l Smokey Arrives at LTWC.
Click on a photo to enlarge.

Li'l Smokey arrives