ENVIRONMENT
There was no way this young bobcat was going to make it , thought Sallysue Stein . It came in growling and snarling with fifth-degree burns down to the bone from the Camp Fire , the most destructive wildfire in California ’ s history that killed 85 people and wiped out the towns of Paradise and Concow in Butte County in 2018 . Stein founded Gold Country Wildlife Rescue in Auburn in 1991 , and this was the first time an animal was brought in injured from a wildfire . Stein would soon find more and more burned animals coming each year .
“ We have these megafires and super-hot fires that we ’ ve never had before ,” Stein says . “ These fires are so hot and so fast . The animals that normally could have escaped them can ’ t escape them now .”
Indeed , California ’ s wildfires have been burning hotter and longer than in previous decades . By the end of 2021 , the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported more than 8,600 wildfires that consumed nearly 2.6 million acres and destroyed about 3,600 structures . The Lava Fire alone burned 41 square miles west of Mount Shasta in Siskiyou County . Cal Fire keeps records of acres burned , structures destroyed and loss of human life in each fire , but there are no records of how many animals die or are injured by wildfires . What happens to the animals displaced by these infernos ?
“ I feel sorry for them because they ’ re running out of places to go ,” Stein says .
Dr . Eric Johnson is a veterinarian and associate professor at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine who goes out to smoldering wildfire sites to rescue burned animals . The worst hit areas are where there were crown fires instead of ground fires . In crown fires , intense flames shoot quickly up a tree to its crown , engulfing it .
“ Most of the time when we get reports of burned or injured wildlife , it ’ s coming out of those crown fires , which have that sort of appearance that is Mars-like or ( a ) lunar landscape appearance ,” Johnson says . “ And in those areas it ’ s devastating the amount of wildlife and domestic animals that are killed .”
On one search after the 2021 Antelope Fire in the Klamath National Forest in
“ We have these megafires and super-hot fires that we ’ ve never had before . These fires are so hot and so fast . The animals that normally could have escaped them can ’ t escape them now .”
SALLYSUE STEIN Founder , Gold Country Wildlife Rescue
Siskiyou County , Johnson was looking for a bear that was reported burned . He found seven dead animals in a creek bed , congregated together . They died of burns and smoke inhalation .
It was scenarios like this that had compelled UC Davis veterinarians to do something a few years earlier . There was then no standard of care or treatment in place for animals burned by wildfires , beyond burn cream , antibiotics and bandages . Through research , they pioneered a groundbreaking treatment for burned animals that has captured the attention of scientists around the world .
It started with Lucy and Ethel
Lucy and Ethel , two adult bears that were burned in the 2017 Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties , were the first animals treated for wildfire burns by Johnson and his wife , Dr . Jamie Peyton , also a veterinarian and chief of integrative medicine at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine . One of the bears was found soaking her third-degree burned paws in a water fountain . The bears were transported to Rancho Cordova across from Nimbus Dam , where the California Department of Fish and Wildlife maintains the Wildlife Health Laboratory , the only approved rehabilitation facility for large predators in California .
Johnson says he and Peyton brainstormed novel ways to treat the animals ’ burns . “ We wanted to develop a bandage that would not only serve the purpose of covering the wounds , but also didn ’ t require a lot of heavy bandage material ,” which they could chew and eat , he says . They read about scientists in Brazil who were using tilapia skins to treat human burn patients . The veterinarians tried it on the bears .
“ We get fresh fish and harvest the skins . There ’ s a lot of preparation into sterilizing the fish skins and making sure they are in a state which can be safely applied to burn wounds and other wounds ,” Johnson says . The tilapia skins are either sutured or pasted on the injured animal and adhere to the underlying tissue . The animals receive instant pain relief from the collagen-rich fish skins , with tissue growing back on the burned areas within days .
“ It ’ s a real game changer . Once you place it on , they almost immediately feel pain relief because those nerve endings are no longer exposed . The body accepts
50 comstocksmag . com | February 2022