New Mexico firefighters rescue ‘Cinder,’ the elk calf, from fire’s ashes
The Associated Press
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Firefighters say they have rescued an abandoned newborn elk calf from the ashes of the nation’s largest wildfire as calving season approaches its peak in early June and fires rage across the American Southwest.
In this photo provided by Nate Sink, a newborn elk calf rests alone in a remote, fire-scarred area of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Mora, N.M., on Saturday, May 21, 2022. Sink says he saw no signs of the calf’s mother and helped transport the baby bull to a wildlife rehabilitation center to be raised alongside a surrogate gown elk. (Nate Sink via AP)
In this photo provided by Nate Sink, the Missoula, Montana-based firefighter, cradles a newborn elk calf that he encountered in a remote, fire-scarred area of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Mora, N.M., on Saturday, May 21, 2022. Sink says he saw no signs of the calf’s mother and helped transport the abandoned baby bull to a wildlife rehabilitation center to be raised alongside a surrogate gown elk. (Nate Sink via AP)
Missoula, Montana-based firefighter Nate Sink said Tuesday that he happened upon the motionless calf on the floor of a fire-blackened forest in New Mexico as he extinguished smoldering trees.
A burned car and piece of machinery are seen following a wildfire near Las Vegas, New Mexico, on Monday, May 2, 2022. Wind-whipped flames are marching across more of New Mexico’s tinder-dry mountainsides, forcing the evacuation of area residents and dozens of patients from the state’s psychiatric hospital as firefighters scramble to keep new wildfires from growing. The big blaze burning near the community of Las Vegas has charred more than 217 square miles. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
A pair of deer are seen grazing by a burn scar following a wildfire near Las Vegas, New Mexico, on Monday, May 2, 2022. Wind-whipped flames are marching across more of New Mexico’s tinder-dry mountainsides, forcing the evacuation of area residents and dozens of patients from the state’s psychiatric hospital as firefighters scramble to keep new wildfires from growing. The big blaze burning near the community of Las Vegas has charred more than 217 square miles. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
Elk are seldom outrun by wildfire, and the rescue of the singed calf dubbed “Cinder” evoked events 70 years ago in New Mexico involving a scalded black bear cub and the fire prevention mascot “Smokey Bear.”
