Smokey Bear

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, The Smokey Bear Act, 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.

See also

• Bambi
• Woodsy Owl
• Smokey the Bear Sutra, a 1992 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. Full text is on Wikisource - Smokey the Bear Sutra.