The bears at Pooh's Corner on the Kings Highway appear to have been incinerated in what looks to be a despicable act of vandalism.
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While it has not been confirmed if the bears were the victim of an accident or deliberate act, the Eurobodalla Shire Council says the iconic spot is regularly torched.
Kaleen man Phill Sledge was driving past Pooh Bear's Corner on Friday morning when he noticed most of the bears were gone and the site was blackened.
After The Canberra Times published Mr Sledge's photograph of the blackened site, Monash cabinet maker Slavko Grgic said he put a small, intense fire out at Pooh's Corner after he saw the flames while driving past close to midnight on August 12. He also provided a video and photographs of the fire.
The 34-year-old said the fire appeared to have been ignited with fuel. He could not remember seeing any bears in the cave.
"I just had to dig up dirt and put it on the fire. It took a while," he said.
"I reported it to Batemans Bay police but they didn't seem to really care that much."
Mr Sledge, meanwhile, first noticed something was amiss at the site about two weeks ago but only remembered to take some photographs when driving past on Friday to send them to Tim the Yowie Man, to see if he had any explanation.
Mr Sledge said there was ash inside the little cave but no evidence of half-burned bears.
"I don't know if someone has come in and saved the bears or what's happened," he said, earlier in the day before Mr Grgic came forward with the fresh details.
"It could have been an accident. Maybe someone lit a tea candle there. But then the site is usually pretty damp. It's a real mystery. That's why I contacted Tim."
Earlier this year, Mr Sledge provided a photograph to Tim the Yowie Man showing what he thought were a record number of bears at the site, counting more than 100 there.
A spokeswoman for Eurobodalla Shire Council said vandalism at the site was unfortunately routine.
The Kings Highway was the responsibility of the NSW Government's Roads and Maritime Services which contracted the council to maintain Pooh's Corner.
Maintenance crews had not been there recently so could not say exactly what happened on this occasion, but the council was aware vandals regularly targeted the site.
"Talking to the guys it seems this happens about once a year when people burn the bears and put graffiti there. Unfortunately, it's just vandalism," the spokeswoman said.
Canberrans and other travellers along the highway cherish Pooh's Corner as a highlight on the trip to the coast.
They also put soft toys in trees along the highway, delighting kids and making the trip more bearable.
In what may or may not be a connected incident, soft toys had also started to appear on trees along Mugga Lane, near the tip, in south Canberra, but had recently been ripped down.
Crookwell farmers David and Barbara Carter created Pooh Bear's Corner more than 45 years ago in a bid to create a whimsical distraction for their children on their trip to the coast.
There was some debate online in the wake of the shock fire about whether Pooh's Corner had become overcrowded with "mouldy toys" and the site should instead be left to children's imagination.
Tim the Yowie Man reported last year the history of the site that became Pooh's Corner: "Pooh Bear's Corner played an important part in a plan to protect Canberra from enemy forces during World War II,'' he wrote. "Officers of the 12th Battalion of the Volunteer Defence Corp manned the corner between 1942 and 1944, guarding a tunnel that had been built beneath the road and packed with explosives. "If Japanese forces landed on the south coast, the plan was to blow up the Kings Highway at Pooh Bear's Corner, thereby slowing any attempt by enemy forces to reach Canberra. After the war, the entrance to the tunnel was filled with concrete.''
