Image ID:  FHS3261
Image Date:   June 30, 1950
Image Title:   [Dedication ceremony of the "real" Smokey Bear to the Washington Zoo, 1950.]
Image Caption:   Caption 1: No. 10 -- Flashbulbs popped and newsreel cameras whirred as Smokey was presented to the Washington Zoo. Speaking at the microphone is Homer Pickens, assistant state game warden of New Mexico. Seated, to right of Mr. Pickens, is Senator Dennis Chavez of New Mexico. Hundreds of school children howled in glee as Smokey performed for his audience.

Caption 2: [Ceremony in front of bear cage at Washington Zoo. Men, women and children, including girl and boy scouts, on and around stage. Photographers set up in front of stage. Several Smokey Bear posters in background, and a large banner reading "Welcome, Smokey!"]

[This image is one of many promotional photos taken of Smokey in 1950 (see also FHS image ID# FHS3253-3254, FHS3256-3260, and FHS3262-3263). This bear cub was cared for by New Mexico Game Warden Ray Bell after being injured in the 1950 Capitan Gap fire in New Mexico's Lincoln National Forest. The cub was named "Smokey Bear" after the character created in 1944 by the Forest Service and the Advertising Council, and donated by the Forest Service to the National Zoo in Washington, DC where he remained until his death in 1976.]
Photographer:   [Walters, Harold D., for the U.S. Forest Service]
Use Restrictions:   Permission from the Forest History Society required for any use of this image.
Repository Contact Information:   Forest History Society, Inc.; 701 William Vickers Ave., Durham, NC 27701; Tel.: (919) 682-9319; Fax: (919) 682-2349.