California: State's drought having pronounced effect on wildlife

[marmar]

(Los Angeles Times) Starving baby squirrels in parts of Northern California are so hungry that they are jumping out of their nests to search for food and getting lost on the way home.

The increase in suddenly motherless squirrels is just one example of how the state's prolonged drought has affected wildlife, experts say.

"If the drought continues, we expect next year to be much worse," she said. "Fewer babies will make it through to adulthood as sources of food become scarce."

Baby squirrels are just one of many animals fleeing their homes and risking their lives to search for food sources that have been diminished by drought.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said drought has forced more bears and deer to venture onto mountain highways, where many are struck and killed by vehicles. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-drought-animals-20141228-story.html

[Victor_c3]

1. Yup and it trickles all the way down (or up) the food chain

My first thougtht is "boo-hoo, who cares about baby squirrels. I'm hungry and I'm going to go get a big fat bacon burger to eat." However, these things do matter.

A couple of years back abnormal winter weather patterns took a toll on some sort of "white footed field mouse" or something with a name like that in my area. As a result, the following spring and summer ticks carrying lime disease didn't have a primary host to land on and were more likely to attach to pets and humans.

Pets in my area are treated with various tick-killing drugs and this in turn caused a reduction the following year in the population of ticks which in turn reduced a food supply for various animals that feed on ticks and small bugs like them causing them to eat other alternative foods...

This sort of thing has very far reaching effects and ripples its way accross ecosystems.

Anyways, I am going to go get that bacon burger that I was talking about in the begining of my post.