The wildfires raging in California have brought a new round of social-media instructions to "put out buckets of water" for fleeing animals. But that's not a good idea, some wildlife experts say.
This week's tweets and posts recycle the campaign that hit social media during last winter's fires. Among those retweeting it this week were Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas, who has 429,000 followers.
While well-intentioned, the advice may do more harm than good, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife told the Southern California News Group in December.
"In a wildfire, you should let the animals take care of themselves. It is detrimental to put food and water out for them because then they become dependent on people," said Peter Tira. "And that never ends well for the animals."
Animals that can flee quickly _ such as birds, deer, bobcats, mountain lions and coyotes _ scatter at the first sign of flames. They instinctively know how to survive and where to find a water source, Tira said. Snakes, wood rats and other burrowing animals will dig a hole and allow the fire to sweep over them, he said.
Putting out water is the same as leaving food. It will habituate the wild animal to return to your home. "You are not doing them a favor by attracting them to dwellings that catch fire," Tira said.
And after the fires are out and life returns to normal, visiting mountain lions may not be welcomed by your pet dog or cat, he said.
Some tweets say the practice is sanctioned by the "forestry department" or some other official-sounding agency, a claim labeled false by the fact-checking site Snopes.com.
