Network works to heal animals injured by wildfires
The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and California Department of Fishand Wildlife have partnered to establish the Wildlife Disaster Network to mobilize resources needed to aid wildlife affected by wildfire and other disasters.
Modeled after the UC Davis-led Oiled Wildlife Care Network, created in 1994 to mobilize volunteers and professionals to rescue and treat shorebirds and other wildlife that are injured during oil spills, the Wildlife Disaster Network includes veterinarians, wildlife biologists, ecologists and trained animal care volunteers.
Through WDN UC Davis-affiliated staff will also conduct field reconnaissance in the aftermath of fires, with the approval and oversight of the incident command, when conditions are deemed safe to do so. While most of the animals treated have come to the team “passively” — that is someone found them and brought them in for treatment — WDN has established a hotline for first responders, utility workers and the general public to call in for assistance with coordinating care for injured wildlife. That number is: 1-800-942- 6459.
“The idea is to create a collaborative process — which works within any existing emergency incident command structure — that brings experts together to respond to injured animals and prevent suffering,” said UC Davis’ Deana Clifford in a press release.
The seeds for the Wildlife Disaster Network were planted in December 2017 when wildlife veterinarians from the UC Davis and CDFW teamed up to save the life of a black bear that sustained third-degree burns in Southern California’s Thomas Fire. The innovative treatment involved the use of tilapia skins as natural bandages for the bear’s paw pads while she recovered at CDFW’s Wildlife Investigations Laboratory. Before the month was out two more burn victims of the ThomasFire, another bear and a young mountain lion were brought in for medical care. All three patients were successfully cared for using the fishskin treatments and released back into their natural habitat.
In 2018 more wildlife burn victims from the Carr and Camp fires were brought to the laboratory for treatment. While 2019 was a comparatively quiet year, 2020 has seen more than 7,7000 individual fire that have consumes more than 3.7 million acres to date. And with these fires have come new patients for the WDN team including a 370-poundmale black bear from the aptly named Bear Fire ( North Complex fires); a female mountain lion fromthe Bobcat Fire in Los Angeles County; and, a 520-pound male bear from the Zogg Fire in Shasta County. All the patients received burn treatments that included the fish-skin bandages.
“The North Complex (fires) bear was released back to the wild last week. At this time, we have one bear from the Zogg Fire and one mountain lion from the Bobcat Fire still being treated. I hate to say this, but with winds expected this weekend, and more fires likely on the way, we’ll probably have more patients in the coming month,” said Kristen Macintyre, CDFW communications manager.
As California’s wildfires grow in intensity, size and frequency, the state’s wildlife veterinarians are reexamining how wildlife are faring, to what extent should there be intervention and what the human capacity is to intervene.
“While we know what a devastating effect wildfires have on our human population— and, to a lesser degree, domestic animals — our knowledge about how wildfires affect wildlife during and immediately after the disaster has been so limited,” UC Davis’s Jamie Peyton said in a press release. “There’s always been this prevailing mindset that ‘ they’ll get out of the way,’ or that they can manage if left alone, but that needs to change. With the increase in frequency and severity of disasters, wildlife cannot escape. Without human interference, these animals will suffer and succumb, due not only to their injuries but also to the loss of food, water and habitat. It is our obligation to provide the missing link for the wildlife that share our home.”
Donations to the Wildlife Disaster Network can be given online at the California Wildlife Conservation General Support website at https://give.ucdavis. edu/VWHC/V470CWC or by calling the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Office of Advancement, at 7527024.