A bear cub whose feet were badly burned last month in the 416 fire near Durango is healing quickly, and state wildlife officials plan to release her into the wild eventually, along with four other orphaned cubs.

“The burns have healed nicely, and at this point I’d say her paws are about 95 percent healed,” said Michael Sirochman, manager of the Frisco Creek wildlife center where the cub has been treated. “She still has a few nicks on her feet that we’re keeping an eye on, so we’ll probably examine her a few more times during the next month.”

Ointment was applied to her paws, which were wrapped in fresh bandages every other day. She started tearing the bandages off about two weeks after she arrived.

“When her feet hurt, she left them alone. But as she began to feel better, she became more active and pulled them off,” Sirochman said Friday.

The final bandages were applied July 11, but Sirochman said he continued to apply a “spray-on” bandage and kept the cub isolated.

A week later, she was taken from her isolation pen and placed with the four other cubs at the rehabilitation center. She appears to be settling in with the other cubs, Sirochman said.

The bears are being fed a specially designed food that includes branches of native berries. Sirochman said he hopes all the cubs will be about 90 pounds when they are released so they can make it through hibernation.

The cub with the burned paws weighed about 10 pounds when she was brought in but now weighs 26 pounds, he said.

The cubs will get full rations until early December, when their feedings will be cut, then stopped, so they can enter hibernation naturally.

The plan is to take them to a remote area in January, where wildlife officers will construct dens from hay and branches near where the cubs were found.

People donated $1,100 to the Frisco Creek center after the burned cub’s rescue was announced, money that might go toward the cost of a new X-ray machine.

“The contributions were a total surprise, and we’re very grateful and appreciate the support,” Sirochman said. “The money will be put to good use here.”

The 416 fire, which started June 1, burned 54,129 acres. Firefighters spotted the cub wandering alone about two weeks after the fire began, and wildlife officers captured her June 22.

Officers took the cub, which appeared to be in good health otherwise, to the Frisco Creek wildlife facility near Del Norte in the San Luis Valley to treat her burned paws.