As a raging wildfire scorched Shasta County in late September, a 500-pound black bear stumbled out of the ash. The bear’s paw pads were so burnt that he could barely walk when state wildlife biologists found him and rushed him to a treatment center.
Confronted by a surge in the number of hot and fast-moving fires, UC Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine joined forces with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to create a network of experts to rescue and rehabilitate bears, mountain lions and other burned animals.
The efforts of the Wildlife Disaster Network, launched in October, represent a new strategy for veterinary medicine. The network is modeled after a successful UC Davis program that rescues and treats oiled birds and other wildlife in the wake of oil spills.
Volunteering their time, the veterinarians in the new network are performing search-and-rescue operations and triage, in addition to providing innovative veterinary care for wildlife injured in California’s devastating wildfires.
“When we saw an injured animal in the past, the philosophy was, ‘Just let it be. It’s nature’s way,’” said Dr. Jamie Peyton, a senior veterinarian at UC Davis who is an expert in treating wounded wildlife. “Well, a lot of these fires are not natural. And we have a responsibility to not let these animals suffer.”
A series of record-breaking fire seasons has added urgency to the vets’ mission.
In 2008, the Department of Fish and Wildlife took in just one burned animal: a bear that department employees nicknamed Smokey. After he was treated and released, the wildlife agency didn’t see another burned animal until 2017, when they treated two bears and a cougar. But in the three years since then, the agency’s caseload of burned animals has exploded.
“Every once in a while we had a bad year in California, and maybe a bear like little Smokey would come through. But now, almost every year is a really bad year,” said Dr. Deana Clifford, a veterinarian with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. In 2020, the network has treated burned mountain lions, bears, bobcats, coyotes, foxes and even a possum.
Surviving wildfires
Most wild animals have evolved to survive wildfires, which have always been a part of California’s natural history, injecting the soil with nutrients and clearing debris from the forest floor. But in recent decades, forest management strategies have relied on suppressing fires. And that often allows dry vegetation to pile up and provide the fuel that creates more intense blazes.
At the same time, climate change has spurred higher temperatures, lower humidity and a diminishing snowpack — turning California into a tinderbox, scientists say.
Wild animals have strong fight-or-flight instincts, veterinarians say, but today’s hotter and bigger fires are hard to escape.
“They can’t get out fast enough,” Peyton said. “Or they get stuck in a spot and get scared.”
Vets say the chaos of firefighting — bulldozers, trucks, crews and helicopters — often frightens animals as they try to find the fire’s edge.
“We’ve had examples where animals ran out of the fire and then actually ran back in because they saw people,” Peyton said.
Even if animals hide until flames are gone, the smoldering ground that remains can badly burn their feet when they begin walking around again.
During the peak of fire season in September, Wildlife Disaster Network teams executed several reconnaissance missions into areas they suspected burned animals might be. But as the fire season began to wind down, the network relied heavily on tips to its hotline.
Even though the fire season is mostly over, burned animals are still out there, Peyton said. “They have such a strong survival instinct,” she said. “You can find these animals for months after a fire.”
After they are rescued, most animals are tranquilized and transported to the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s investigations laboratory in Rancho Cordova for treatment.
Not all animals can be saved. This year the team had to euthanize several animals whose injuries were so severe they would not be able to survive in the wild again after rehabilitation.
Clifford said the vets’ goal is to keep the animals as wild as possible.
It’s not always feasible, however. Three mountain lion cubs were plucked in early October from Shasta County’s Zogg Fire and brought to the Oakland Zoo, where veterinarians and the zoo staff treated the cubs’ wounds, gave them antibiotics and fed them by hand.
Early this month, the cubs were flown to their new home at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. If they were returned to the wilderness, they wouldn’t have had a healthy fear of humans, veterinarians say.
“It’s not safe for us or for them,” Peyton said.
But adult animals have a fighting chance to recover and be released to the wild, thanks to innovations in veterinary burn care, many of them spearheaded by Peyton.
Skin made of fish
A bandage made of thick fish skin is central to her care regimen. The skin is removed from a tilapia, then sanitized in Peyton’s lab and placed directly on top of an animal’s raw injuries.
The fish skin works by protecting the delicate nerve endings of an open burn. It also quickens the wound healing process, likely by providing collagen, a protein that provides a matrix that skin cells can grab onto as they grow.
Peyton read about similar bandages used on human patients in Brazil and thought the technique made sense for wildlife. Unlike a synthetic bandage, a curious bear or puma won’t be hurt by pulling the fish skin off its paw and eating it.
Other treatments include infrared laser therapy to promote healing. Peyton has even administered acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments to a burned mountain lion to relieve stiffness from crawling on its elbows and knees.
After five weeks of treatment, the 500-pound black bear’s burned paws were almost completely healed. So on Nov. 7, after a 240-mile drive north and one final examination, he was released into Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in Shasta County. Biologists tagged his ears and put a satellite collar around his neck so they can track his progress in the months and years to come.
As the state’s fire seasons worsen, Clifford said, the recovered animals can become a symbol of resilience in an era when so many California towns and neighborhoods have been ravaged by wildfires.
“These animals are a piece of these communities,” she said. “You know, we can’t save them all, but I do think that some of these animals bring hope to the communities.”
How to help
To report injured wildlife to the Wildlife Disaster Network, call 800-942-6459.
To donate to the Wildlife Disaster Network, visit give.ucdavis.edu.
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