Smokey's instant catch-phrase is "Only you can prevent forest fires!"
Smokey Bear is a mascot of the United States Forest Service created in 1944 to educate the public on the dangers of forest fires. Initially the Forest Service used Bambi, from the Walt Disney film, on its posters, but Bambi was only loaned to them by Disney for one year, so a new animal mascot had to be created. The bear's first poster was prepared on August 9, 1944. In 1952, after Smokey Bear became popular enough to attract commercial interest, an Act of Congress was passed to take Smokey out of the public domain and place him under the control of the Secretary of Agriculture. The Act provided for the use of Smokey's royalties for continued education on forest fire prevention.
It is the longest running public-service campaign in US history. The cartoon character of Smokey was designed by Richard Scarry for Little Golden Books. During his heyday Smokey received so much fan mail that he was assigned his own ZIP Code, 20252.
Smokey was based on an actual black bear cub who in the spring of 1950 was caught in a wildfire in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico. He had climbed a tree to escape the blaze, but his paws and hind legs had been burned. At first he was called Hotfoot Teddy and only later acquired the name Smokey. A local rancher who had been helping fight the fire took the cub home with him, but he needed veterinary aid so a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Ranger took the bear to Santa Fe. He became a media celebrity and was sent to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. A popular song based on the story added a the because "Smokey the Bear" scanned better.
The character has been seen less in recent years as the Forest Service converted from a policy of absolute prevention of forest fires to one of controlled burning.
CB radio users often use the word Smokey or "bear" as code for "police".
Completed in 1979, the Park was established to honor Capitan's favorite son Smokey, the little bear cub that was found with burned paws after a 17,000 acre forest fire in 1950 on the Capitan Mountains near Capitan, New Mexico.
After living in the National Zoo in Washington D.C. for 26 years, Smokey passed away and was returned to the Village of Capitan to be buried at what is now the SmokeyBear Historical Park.
The SmokeyBear Historical Park is located on highway 380 (better known as 118 SmokeyBear Blvd.) in the heart of the Village of Capitan and is open everyday of the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years day.
Smokey's real-life counterpart was a fl bear cub who in the spring of 1950 was caught in the Capitan Gap fire, a wildfire in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico.
Smokey is typically depicted as a bear in a biped humanoid form wearing blue jeans and a flatbrimmed campaign hat.
Smokey the Bear Sutra, a 1969 poem by Gary Snyder which presents environmental concerns in the form of a Buddhist sutra, and depicts Smokey as the reincarnation of the Great Sun Buddha.
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