Canadian wildfires burning out of control are bringing heavy skies and dirty air to parts of the United States that aren’t ready for it—and that’s affecting not only people, but their pets and livestock, too.
An animal welfare expert from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers some advice for animal keepers to help them get their animals out on these smoky days more safely.
“In this region, we’re not used to dealing with polluted air,” said Angela Green-Miller, an associate professor in the university’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
“We don’t usually have filtration in our homes or commercial indoor animal production facilities, although some poultry and pork facilities have implemented air filtration systems to control the spread of airborne diseases. ,” he said in a university news release. “These filtration systems should help reduce some of the air quality issues, putting them in a slightly better position. But for everyone else, we are not equipped to handle this situation.”
The concerns for animals are the same as for humans, Green-Miller said. It is important that they do not overexert themselves to avoid breathing deeply and pulling waste into their lungs.
Don’t ride your horses, Green-Miller says, so they don’t take deep breaths.
“If you usually run with your very active dog to get some energy, maybe go for a walk or toss a toy around the house,” she adds. “And if you have to go on that walk, keep monitoring the weather and pick a time of day when the air quality isn’t that bad. That’s the best we can do until it gets better— the situation is good.”
In the meantime, farmers and pet owners should be on the lookout for abnormal animal behavior as the smoky conditions continue.
“We can see animals behaving with a heightened sense of danger because the smoke activates a flight response,” Green-Miller said.
“As humans, we know that the smoke is from a fire hundreds of miles away and that we are not in real danger and should not run away from it. Animals don’t know that , so we can see the responses to the flight involved for some of our animals,” he explained.
Among the behaviors may be more fearful responses, and may be more defensive or aggressive postures, Green-Miller said.
“Again, we can’t really do much to mitigate this, but we can certainly learn and think about how we communicate and manage our animals so we don’t put ourselves at risk,” he said.
The consequences of these days of polluted air aren’t likely to be long-lasting for most animals, Green-Miller said, but those with respiratory conditions are at a higher risk of health complications.
More information:
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more than just the health risks of fire smoke.
2023 Health Day. All rights reserved.
Citation: Air polluted by wildfire smoke also harms animals (2023, July 3) retrieved 4 July 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-07-air-polluted-wildfire-animals.html
This document is subject to copyright. Except for any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without written permission. Content is provided for informational purposes only.