Despite the title, since she has got nothing to do with our profession, we are not going to write about Taylor’s world tour in any way!
At this moment, everyone should know heat waves are going to be more and more common (and more intense) summer after summer. Every live being suffers and weakens with these high temperatures. Statistics say these heat waves cause, directly or not, thousands of deaths every year.
Extremely high temperatures may also kill plants and, of course, animals. In this case, we are not just talking about heat stroke, whose symptoms we have described several times in the past, but also another kind of serious problems such as respiratory failure and dehydration.
If we are talking about controlled domestic animals, prevention is very easy:
- Keeping them in secure cool places away from direct sunlight
- Providing free access to fresh water
When going outdoors:
- Avoiding the worst moments (which are, in these cases, from 10h to 19h)
- Stopping every kind of physical activity
Most of our dogs would be happy to run and play with us till death, so we have to take precautions for them and leave outdoor games for later, when heat wave is over.
Another typical thing in the case of very high temperatures is our pets stop eating. In most cases it shouldn’t worry us, but we have to pay attention to make sure they are drinking enough water and making enough pee. If there is any kind of doubt about it, is time to ask the Vet.
And, what about wildlife during heat waves? Most of them, due to natural selection and their instinct of survival, have resources to deal with it, in a similar way that they would find a safe shelter during a storm. The worst prepared ones in these cases are bird chicks which are still living in the nest and haven’t learned to fly yet. Sometimes the temperature inside the nest is so high that they go out looking for a cooler place and fall from the nest. If this happens, we have to make sure their parents can manage to bring them back to their nest. If this is the case, providing a “sunblind” (for example, a cardboard box) to the chick till it’s rescued by its parents, would be enough. If we can’t see the parents and the place is dangerous (traffic, cats, etc), it’s time to call Environmental Agents, because in most cases we are talking about endangered and protected species, and it’s absolutely forbidden to adopt them.
A particular example of this would be swifts. It’s very common during heat waves for swifts to collapse due to high temperatures, and this species has an additional problem when this happens: except for breeding, these birds live (and eat, and mate… and sleep!!) on the wing. They are perfect precision flying machines, but… they have a defective and rudimentary “gear”. Their legs and feet are so short and small that they are completely unable to take off from the ground (they must jump from a high place).
If you see a swift lying on the ground you have to know it will certainly die if not picked up. In some cases, all it needs is to take a rest for a few minutes and then is ready to fly again. The way to make sure is very easy – put it on your palm away from the ground, and if it feels strong enough, it will jump from your palm and start flying again: mission accomplished! If it’s too young or too weak to fly, we should call Environmental Agents or SOS Vencejos. Swifts should be treated only by very experienced people, and are absolutely necessary for controlling mosquito overpopulation, so every swift life matters. If you are unable to contact Environmental Agents or SOS Vencejos you can bring us the swift and we will contact them for you.
Thanks very much in advance.
