People and pets first.
Property second.
Then there are all those wild animals to worry about.
There are many unknowns when assessing the impact of a forest fire on wildlife, Helen Schwantje, the BC government鈥檚 top wildlife veterinarian told The Spotlight in a telephone interview Sunday morning.
鈥淲e may never know what animals were killed and what happened,鈥� she said. 鈥淢other Nature is pretty resilient, but this is a pretty nasty situation鈥here is nothing that wildlife managers can do to assist the animals until things are safe for people to go in and look.鈥�
According to Schwantje, young animals and small species are more at risk simply because they can鈥檛 travel fast enough.
Large animals like moose, deer and bears can cover ground quickly and use their instincts to find safe ground.
鈥淒o they know where the evacuation corridors are? No, but they will find their own - river courses, in other cases they will go up higher where are air is better.鈥�
Schwantje said so many different factors affect wildlife it is difficult to know which species, in which areas, will be hardest impacted.
鈥淲oodland Cariboo could be severely impacted. They depend on old growth forests and if the old growth forests are burned there are not a lot of other places to go.鈥�
Small birds and certain species of snakes are also particularly vulnerable, she said.
In the aftermath of a fire it is also hard to judge how much an animal population has been decimated, unless that population was already under study.
鈥淪ome of the areas that are being burned currently, there is research going on there and monitoring and that will include going back and checking those populations.鈥�
Overall, the biggest impact the fires will likely have on animals is changes to habitat.
鈥淗abitat is what all wildlife depends on.鈥�
Carnivores may suffer from a lack of food source, when smaller animal populations are eliminated, she said.
For others there might be an eventual upside.
鈥淢oose and deer benefit from fire that allows new vegetation to grow up very quickly. In years to come those areas might eventually benefit.鈥�
Schwantje said it鈥檚 important for animal lovers to understand there is not a provincially run rescue or rehabilitation program for wildlife, however the Conservation Service Office and volunteer groups play a role.
鈥淚n most cases we are not going to see animals that we can rescue or make better鈥f the public sees animals that are in distress or injured they should first call the RAPP line 1-877-952-7277.鈥�
