Fire, hungry predators

[Matlock]

With many thousands of acres of western land burnt, have animals been attacking humans for live food or have they learned that with a little BBQ sauce it's tolerable to eat anything charred they come across?

Seriously, do they get consumed by these fires or are they driven to the edge and then forage as normal?

 

[maki2]

Most of those forest areas are very large but some are near towns. There are no doubt some territorial battles when they move into another animals established territory. Of course not all of the wild animals survive and of course the scavenger animals will eat other dead animals. But there is nothing new about this behavior as forest fires have happened every year since there were forest on the planet earth. Of course there are also wild fires on prairies. Some animal species have a very large territory and even migrate seasonally.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Zombie stories in the week preceding Halloween....I'M IN!

 

[DLTooley]

We saw some strange bird die off events here in Colorado. Presumably these were from birds displaced by California fires.

 

[WanderingRose]

This is a bit off topic, but was a stark reminder to me that animals travel and to always be aware of your surroundings.

I saw a young mountain lion in northern Wisconsin early one morning this past June, just south of Ashland.

After contacting DNR, they told me they get sub-adult males in the area periodically, traveling from South Dakota.

Makes walking in the woods a whole new experience.

 

[maki2]

:i have not seen any news stoories about animals attacking people after forest fires. You do see stories about animals coming into towns when there is a drought and food and water aee scarce. There are stories about lost domestic animals in towns scavenging for food after a natural disaster hits a town. But in general most wild animals avoid contact with humans. A fire would not change that deep rooted instinct.

Would a wild carnivore eat a dead human if it finds one in the wild? Of course they would.

 

[NctryBen]

I wouldn’t worry too much about this scenario. I’d worry more about in areas where there are such animals people leaving camps messy and not containing food and garbage properly where they can get into. They get habitual at finding these situations and raiding camps can deem profitable. In northern Minnesota this year bears were a problem because of this. Other times skunks and such can be a problem. But unless you have good taste, I mean taste good... you shouldn’t worry too much about what your asking.

 

[txmnjim]

i agree its not much of a concern to the OP, but to your point about MN bears, i was in Ely camping for a week during hunting season and never saw a glimpse of a bear. we do keep a tidy camp though. i did hear that they were a nuisance because of poor berry and acorn supply this year. i guess the near record Bear "harvest" of over 3,000 bears this season will help alleviate that problem

 

[LERCA]

No, where I live the fires never cause animals to do this. They are smarter than humans and will head for water. Read an article about our most recent fire and a bunch of people were headed in the wrong direction and a local took a caravan to the nearby lake where most of the horses and wild animals were already there. One reason I don’t believe in caging animals when you leave a home. We have bears and bobcats near pools and a terrible problem with coyotes but never seen a fire cause animals to become aggressive. They can always find food.

 

[crofter]

After the large Eagle Creek fire in OR, large mountain lions migrated to fringe areas near town
 Some of the images on game cams looked to be very big lions, and not afraid of people.
-crofter.

 

[Matlock]

My guess was the further down the food chain the less aggressive you would be. The closer you are to the top of the chain the more likely to go with the "you burn down my house (forest) I'm gonna even the score, figuratively speaking.

But I'm sure that kind of thinking isn't anything that would, you know, actually happen, outside of the movies and a few books maybe. :0

 

[highdesertranger]

"you burn down my house (forest) I'm gonna even the score."

animals don't think like that.

highdesertranger

 

[WanderingRose]

I do think that if any living thing finds itself starving, any behavior could occur.

 

[ridgeway]

I would imagine predator animals bears, lions, etc. are forced to leave their territory and try to survive in another animals territory. The odds of survival in that situation are small.

Predators live in survival situations most of their lives when they are close to death they do desperate things but usually not to humans. They will go after easier stuff like chihuahuas, chickens, garbage cans. Part of survival is not being seen by humans so we will not see any of it 99.99% of the time.

I have lived and hunted near a fire areas and have never noticed a real difference in animal attacks or activity.

 

[NctryBen]

i agree its not much of a concern to the OP, but to your point about MN bears, i was in Ely camping for a week during hunting season and never saw a glimpse of a bear. we do keep a tidy camp though. i did hear that they were a nuisance because of poor berry and acorn supply this year. i guess the near record Bear "harvest" of over 3,000 bears this season will help alleviate that problem

i think in Minnesota the problem is people more then bears. In the country the first sign of problems we take in our bird feeders at night and keep garbage locked up. In the canoe area your talking about most people are like you, but like everywhere people unaccustomed to this type of camping do not leave a tidy camp and such. And bear pick up on the picnic basket routine pretty well. They watch yogi and boo boo episodes all winter long on their i pads. We’ve had some pretty devastating fires in recent past, and the animals were amazing. Many did what someone suggested using water. Others found refuge in other ways. But I never heard of any animal being a threat to a human in the op’s senerio.

 

[ridgeway]

Interesting study on elk movement and the Colorado fires.

 

[Dingfelder]

After the large Eagle Creek fire in OR, large mountain lions migrated to fringe areas near town
 Some of the images on game cams looked to be very big lions, and not afraid of people.
-crofter.

I'm pretty terrified of mountain lions myself, and live in the vicinity to boot, but still ... how can you tell from game cams whether a mountain lion is afraid of people?

 

[Matlock]

how can you tell from game cams whether a mountain lion is afraid of people?

Look at the picture

 

[Qxxx]

Mountain lions like to attack "moving" prey (aka humans) from behind. When I lived in Colorado, there were 2 instances of this. In one case, the lion jumped on a kid from above as he ran by, in the other it tracked a female jogger who climbed up a tree to get away.

Mountain lions are one of the big predators where the best plan is to "fight back", if attacked. But they prefer stealth: to jump on your back, and sever the spinal cord in your neck with their 4" fangs.

 

[WanderingRose]

Thanks for that, Q.

I am already afraid of walking in the woods. :s

Just can’t get myself to do it where large and toothy animals live.

Call me a chicken, but I’m a town girl and didn’t grow up learning to deal with four legged predators.