MSN_092718

18 | September 27, 2018 | Malibu surfside news sound off
malibusurfsidenews.com
On Common Ground
When, how to aid wildlife during wildfires
Dr. Stephany Lewis
DVM, California Wildlife Center
The 2017 California
wildfire season was
one of the most
destructive on record, with
a total of 9,133 fires burning
over 1.3 million acres,
according to the California
Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection.
While many people
were displaced from their
homes, many animals
were as well. Here at the
California Wildlife Center,
we may see a few patients
every year that have been
directly impacted by
wildfires, and we also get
many calls from the public
asking what they should
do to help animals that
may have been affected by
the fires.
First, it is important to
understand that while wildfires
may be worsening
due to human impact and
climate change, it is still
a natural environmental
process that all our native
animals have evolved with.
Birds will instinctively fly
away from the flames and
smoke, mammals will also
flee, and some amphibians
and invertebrates may burrow
into the soil to hide.
Of course, young animals
may not be able to escape,
many bird nests and eggs
may be destroyed, and
even the healthiest animal
This rabbit was among patients California Wildlife Center
received following a fire.
Photos by Jamie Pelayo/California Wildlife Center
The patient suffered a burn on its ear as a result of a
wildfire.
might not be able to outrun
the faster-moving fires.
After a fire, displaced
animals may need to spend
more time searching for
food, water and shelter,
and some may find it
difficult to adjust. Some
animals, however, may
benefit from fires; many
firefighters have reported
seeing predators like
hawks hunt small animals
as they are fleeing from the
fire, taking advantage of
the distraction and larger
concentration of their prey
in a single location.
So, what can you do to
help animals whose homes
may have been destroyed
by fire? Unfortunately, not
very much. Advice circulating
the internet last year
encouraged people to leave
out buckets of water for
displaced wildlife; however,
this is very unlikely
to help most animals.
The best thing may be
to let these animals figure
things out on their own;
they’ve been doing it for
generations, after all. Even
if you see an animal who
appears to be in imminent
danger near flames, we
do not recommend you
attempt to rescue that
animal, for a few reasons.
The first is that you may be
putting yourself in harm’s
way! Second, all wildlife
perceives humans as predators
so, although you may
be trying to rescue that
animal, it will still perceive
you as a threat, and you
may accidentally chase
that animal further into the
flames.
If you do find an animal
that is injured, by fire or
otherwise, and you can
easily catch it without
putting yourself in danger,
there are a few things you
can do.
Please call us at the California
Wildlife Center, or
call another local wildlife
rehabilitation center, for
advice on how to capture
and transport that particular
species. If you can’t get
the animal to a licensed
wildlife rehabilitation
center immediately, please
keep it secured in a box or
pet carrier, in a dark quiet
place, and do not offer it
any food or water. Just
about any wild animal
can survive for 24 hours
without food or water,
and sometimes offering
an inappropriate diet can
cause more harm than not
offering any food at all.
Please keep contact with
the animal to a minimum
to reduce stress.
Here’s to wishing all of
us, including our wildlife
neighbors, get through this
year’s fire season as safely
as possible.
On Common Ground is a
monthly column written by
various California Wildlife
Center employees. CWC, a
nonprofit located in Calabasas,
cares for injured wildlife
in Malibu and beyond.
Poet’s Corner
“Work on What
Has Been Spoiled”
The 18th hexagram of “The I Ching”
... the stubborn myopia that lets comfortable people
stay comfortable by refusing to acknowledge, even to
themselves, the big-picture impact of their actions. -
Laura Collins-Hughes
Ann Buxie, Malibu resident
I speak too late, to acknowledge
my fault, both unconscious and
deliberate.
I speak as our culture founders, stalled
on arguments, and ignorance, stupefied
by convenience, the stubborn myopia,
smitten with our inventions,
our entertainments.
I, speak of consequences, taking you
down, you, mountain lion number P-41,
full of rat poisons, to a misery of dying.
we were never properly introduced.
pardon my inertia, my lack of will
to rise to this occasion, to remember
a vision embracing the whole of creation,
enabling room for all of us,
that we might appreciate you, P-41,
and the wisdom, the grace you possess
as you pace the Earth, searching for food,
for a mate, even as we hunt the internet,
and shop the markets.
I speak to proclaim my failing,
to wonder what kind of city, of sanctuary
this is, that would take away your life.
I speak because I stand in awe
of you, more than I ever will
of artificial intelligence.
I speak that what you suffered, P-41,
not be in vain, that we act to restore
honor among our thieving selves,
that we rebuild relations with you,
with the Earth, because reverence
is the foundation of true culture.*
I speak because I am ashamed,
because I hear hawks shriek.
* “I Ching,” Wilhelm/Baynes, p. 198
Want to submit a poem to the Surfside? Email Editor Lauren
Coughlin at lauren@malibusurfsidenews.com.