Animals May Pay a Visit in Dry Season

As natural water sources continue to dry up, Orange County foothill-area residents can expect to see more than the usual number of wild creatures near homes, state Department of Fish and Game officials cautioned Wednesday.

Also, brush fires--such as Wednesday’s Orange Park Acres and Silverado Canyon blazes--push wildlife closer to residences.

Fred Worthley, a department regional manager based in Long Beach, said populated canyon, desert and foothill communities “are bound to attract larger mammals such as deer and mountain lions” as the normal water supplies continue to decrease during the state’s second consecutive year of dry weather.

Orange County animal control officer Gene Jalbert said sightings of many species, including deer, mountain lions, raccoons, foxes and opossums, “have increased slightly in the last 45 to 60 days,” especially in areas around Irvine Regional Park, the James Musick Honor Farm near El Toro, and Yorba Linda, where a 120-pound mountain lion wandered into a residential neighborhood last March 9 and was shot by police.

Jalbert said it appears that the animals move in from the backcountry in search of water and food, which, as Worthley explained, they find around lawn sprinklers, irrigated lots, garbage cans and in pet food dishes left out over night. Pets themselves often become prey to such animals as coyotes.

Worthley quoted a state Department of Water Resources report that showed only 36% of normal flow from the season’s snowpack in the Colorado River and south coastal areas--both “far below the optimum levels for wildlife.”

He said that while confrontations between wild animals and humans continue to escalate as a result of human incursion into animal habitats, “the conflict increases dramatically during low-water years.”

He suggested that people resist the temptation to feed or provide water for wild creatures, acts which tend to overcome the animals’ natural fear of humans--a situation “that can only lead to dangerous consequences for both.” Worthley said it is important that residents keep garbage containers well sealed, and bring their pets and pet foods indoors at the end of each day.