Thanks everyone for your help with this, and those who sent me file copies to work with.
This was a bit of a learning curve for me, but to get clean lines and paths, I found it was best to learn how to use the pen tool and start from scratch tracing vector lines over the graphic image. A few YouTube videos later (and maybe a nap during one of them......
), I half figured out how to use the pen tool with anchors and handles, and was able to digitize the bear into a fully scalable vector line drawing, then save as an SVG file.
IAP really is a great community!