Trial
by
Fire
Preparing for floods is trickier. “There is really little
that can be done other than in rare instances where
floodplains are being managed as wetlands,” in
which case the water can be lowered in advance of
flooding, says Willie Suchy, wildlife research unit
leader for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Wildlife agencies can also prepare for
flooding by reaching out to partners such as the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers. During the March 2009
Red River floods in Minnesota and North Dakota,
Credit: Tibor Hegedis
Distracted by eucalyptus leaves, a koala receives treatment for burns at a
rehabilitation center in Victoria, Australia. Fires earlier this year left Australian wildlife
such as kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, and echidnas injured or dead, as well as
thousands of acres of habitat destroyed.
Credit: Tom MacKenzie/USF WS
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contaminants specialists plot their response following
a 2008 oil spill off the Louisiana coast. Such coordinated efforts are critical when a
natural disaster affects large stretches of land and unknown numbers of wildlife are
in need of rescue.
for example, the Corps distributed 10 million sandbags to protect cities and towns, an effort which not
only helped protect public and private property but
may have also minimized the spread of urban pollution and debris on surrounding habitat.
Nature often is way ahead of the humans. In many
cases wildlife appear to prepare for disasters on their
own, usually by fleeing the affected area. Just before
the 2004 tsunami crashed onto Southeast Asian
shores, for instance, locals reported seeing elephants
running for higher ground. Claims about the behavior of wildlife during storms, however, is largely
based on anecdotes rather than scientific research.
“We don’t have funds to collect data on something
like this,” says Buddy Goatcher, a contaminants specialist with FWS. He says that only after a disaster is
over does money arrive, allowing basic research to
occur, so “before-and-after” studies are rare.
In the Eye of the Storm
When disasters hit, human needs rightly come
first. However, wildlife rescue and rehabilitation
teams can play a critical role in assisting individual
animals in life-threatening situations. This became
dramatically clear earlier this year as wildfires raged
in Australia. Fueled by record heat and drought,
the unusually severe fires spread over roughly one
million acres and killed nearly 180 people in Victoria. While firefighters and wildlife officers focused
on saving homes and people, wildlife rehabilitators,
many funded by private donations, took in scores
of badly burned and dehydrated koalas, kangaroos, echidnas, and other animals. Similarly, when
Hurricane Gustav caused oil spills that threatened
waterbirds in coastal Louisiana in 2008, wildlife
workers relied on practiced techniques to safely
search for and treat affected wildlife. To maximize
effective management in a crisis, wildlife professionals can do the following:
Obtain safety clearance. Local or government
agencies may be authorized to designate ‘safe zones’
in a disaster area. After the Australia fires, for example, volunteer search-and-rescue teams waited to
get clearance from Victoria’s Department of Sustainability and the Environment as well as from the
Country Fire Authority.
Search systematically. Volunteers in Australia
walked in lines to thoroughly “scour” specific areas
for harmed wildlife says Fiona Corke, media coordinator for Wildlife Victoria. After the oil spill off
