A fire that consumes between a quarter and a third of a million acres of growth and structures within a few weeks is a terrifying and destructive force.
We lost too darned many family homes and other structures, though the firefighters achieved wondrous successes and saved us from so much more loss.
Personally, I love and study critters ,and I shudder to think of what the loss of habitat and home means to untold numbers of critters.
One of our most graceful and beautiful animals is blacktail deer. I know of cases where landowners or renters had to dispose of dead deer that were not able to escape the fierce fires that spread in some cases faster than a panicked deer could pick a relatively safe direction and make a run for it.
When 65-to-70-mile winds blow embers out ahead, and lines of spot-fires spring up, it can box in a deer which then dies in an inferno of blazing heat, lungs filled with smoke and ash. Its heart just gives in to the terror and stops beating.
Can you imagine the terror in its eyes?
With a record-breaking fire burning vast acreage of our back country as well as front country, untold thousands of critters are dead or displaced.
To find food and protection from predation, critters must move a long ways and engage in territorial disputes with critters whose home territory the displaced critters must move into.
Now food shortages become an issue as does protective cover and predators. With a slow start to our rainy season, those problems worsen and cause more loss of life.
Nature will solve the overcrowding problem the hard and bloody way.
My heart goes out to the critters in the wake of the monstrous fire.
Meanwhile, when I see displaced critters of most any species that felt forced down into our residential areas, I’m going to keep some food and water at the ready to help out. We’re in this together with the critters.
As for the deer that survived … they will quickly make their way to areas and try to share the resources with the existing critters. My hopes go with them.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
