Protecting the animals
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As executive director of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, Cheryl Millham knows that the next few days will be busy. She says her organization has 25 to 30 volunteers poised to go in as soon as it’s safe to locate and assist wounded animals. ‘We’re antsy, wanting to get in and help, but until the firefighters say it’s safe, there’s just nothing we can do.’
In past fires, her group has nursed bobcats and deer with burned feet. Millham also expects a lot of calls from people reporting nuisance animals, because ‘all the animals that got out will be condensed in a smaller area.’ Displaced animals are often confused and uncertain where to find food. ‘Out on the other side of our fence line yesterday there was a bear looking totally confused,’ she said. ‘Traffic on the road was bumper to bumper, there was smoke everywhere and planes overhead, and he just had nowhere to go.’
If bears or coyotes enter houses or structures or seem reluctant to leave an inhabited property, her group helps residents try to scare the animals off. ‘We explain to people, ‘Don’t worry, [they’re] not going to eat you,’ ‘ Millham said. ‘And we tell them not to feed them. The animals have to establish new territories, and they’ll have to find their own food. If people feed them, it changes their behavior and will keep them from establishing new patterns.
‘People panic when a bear comes into their yards, but those bears are having a hard time,’ she said. Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care is located three miles from the fire, which so far is burning in the other direction. But if the winds change, Millham said, ‘we’ve got people ready with horse trailers to move our animals.’
-- Sue Horton
