By Cory Correia, CBC News
<http://www.cbc.ca/news/cbc-news-online-news-staff-list-1.1294364> Posted:
Aug 13, 2017 10:00 AM PT Last Updated: Aug 13, 2017 10:00 AM PT

This Virginia Rail was found in Sechelt and is one of the tiniest birds the
Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C. has taken into its Burnaby hospital.
<https://i.cbc.ca/1.4244895.1502506110%21/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/
derivatives/16x9_620/wildlife-rescue-association-of-bc-virginia-rail.jpg>

This Virginia Rail was found in Sechelt and is one of the tiniest birds the
Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C. has taken into its Burnaby hospital.
(Wildlife Rescue Association of BC)

A summer heat wave and extensive wildfires in the B.C. Interior have been
abnormally hard on animals in the province, especially nestlings.

Burnaby’s Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C.
<https://www.wildliferescue.ca/> services the entire province, and says
it’s taking in 20 injured animals a day, with 95 percent suffering from
dehydration.

“The heat is overwhelming them, particularly the past couple weeks have been
really bad. We’ve had a lot of young nestlings, jumping out of nests to
avoid the heat,” said Sam Smith, communications coordinator at Wildlife
Rescue.

Smith says when young birds leave the nest too early, they end up falling on
the ground and start to waste away, because they don’t yet have the strength
to fly or move.

Wildlife Rescue Association of BC Pelagic Cormorant
<https://i.cbc.ca/1.4244901.1502506230%21/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/
derivatives/original_620/wildlife-rescue-association-of-bc-pelagic-cormorant
.JPG>

This Pelagic Cormorant was taken into the Wildlife Rescue Association of
B.C. suffering from dehydration due to the summer heat. (Wildlife Rescue
Association of BC)

Smith says it’s mostly birds that he sees affected by the heat, including
songbirds, waterfowl, marine animals, crows and ravens.

“Sometimes, they’re just so out of sorts, they can’t even drink, let alone
open up their mouths to be given fluids,” he said. In those cases, he says,
they have to hydrate the animals with an injection.

People can help, though, says Smith. “Leave a little lid out with some water
in the shade, or, better yet, fill a small kiddie pool with water and place
some branches/stones inside to allow smaller birds a place to perch while
they drink.”

If anyone sees wildlife in distress, they can usher it into some shade, get
it water and call Wildlife Rescue at 604-526-7275.

Nestlings rescued from wildfires

The wildfires have claimed their own victims, with wildlife rescue an
afterthought.

Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society <http://www.owlrehab.org/> (OWL)
in Delta says they have been taking in young birds injured or left behind in
the wake of the wildfires.

OWL Orphaned Wildlife
<https://i.cbc.ca/1.4244903.1502506492%21/fileImage/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/
derivatives/original_620/owl-orphaned-wildlife.JPG>

The Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society says they currently have nine
rescued animals ready to go back into the wild, including four saw-whet
Owls, one long-eared owl, and four kestrel falcons. (OWL Orphaned Wildlife)

“Most of the adult birds at the time or adult animals would know to flee.
It’s just the young ones that are left behind . So a lot were probably burnt
up pretty good, and the ones that could survive, survived, and the ones that
were found, were found,” said Rob Hope, raptor care manager with OWL.

Hope says they have nine baby birds live tested, flight tested and ready to
get back to their communities, once the fires subside.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-animals-orphaned-summer-he
at-wildfires-1.4244882