As a cub about one and a half years old, Cinder was discovered by Steve Love on his property on French Creek in the Methow Valley on July 31, 2014, two weeks after the wildfires.
The next day, an officer with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife captured her with a catch pole; at about 39 pounds (18 kg) she was too small to tranquilize.
[1] In November 2014, after her paws healed and her weight rose to 83 pounds (38 kg), she was transferred for the winter to Idaho Black Bear Rehabilitation in Garden City,[9] where she became friends with Kaulana (Hawaiian for "quiet"),[10] a male cub who was a year younger.
[12] She was ear-tagged and tattooed for identification[6] and fitted with a radio transmitter collar to track her movements,[13] and the release was witnessed by the pilot who had flown her to Lake Tahoe[14] and press including a CBS crew from Los Angeles.
[4][13] A camp for child burn victims, Camp Eyabsut in North Bend, Washington, adopted her as a mascot[3] and an interactive online children's book, Cinder the Bear, by Barbara deRubertis, benefited Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care and Idaho Black Bear Rehabilitation.