Updates on Severe Storm Damage

Mom, Where am I?

A sandhill crane glided over the highway today, her stylus head pointing home. At least I assumed she had a home. In North Minneapolis, her cousins the crook-necked herons lost homes to a sudden and severe tornado over the weekend--some lost lives and chicks. And some were rescued, according to a report in the StarTribune.  
The great blue heron is not an endangered species--though there is concern their wetlands may be lost. After last weekend's tornado that ruined a rookery, they might not nest again in this area. Just as it's difficult for people who had homes flattened by unforgiving winds and huge falling trees, it's difficult for wildlife to recover in a blasted place.
The needs of devastated people are so intense following natural disasters that it's hard to consider animal needs. But there will never be a day when all  human needs are met and then it's animals' turn. We are all part of what philosopher Mary Midgley calls a mixed community--we grow up with animals and we can't imagine our earthly life without them.
When the Army Corps of Engineers warned that the flood gates must be opened north of New Orleans to protect large populations, a camouflage-attired officer stressed that the water must rise gradually, to give residents like birds, deer, and bear time to evacuate safely. Not all make it, especially when storms keep piling up the water.

The image above from the Global Animal website shows a frightened yearling on a submerged roof. We feel for the deer, but we may be terrified of the snakes that also flee their homes and not just water but cottonmouths show up in basements. Tennessee wildlife manager Jereme Odom, as quoted by that website, noted that turkey nests and young are being lost to the waters and displaced predators, though he also saw unusual truces:
"We’ve seen photos of herds of deer on levees trying to get away from the waters and heard from the Army Corps of Engineers that they’ve seen deer drowned during the flood . . . One of our wildlife managers even spotted deer and coyotes standing on the same levee together.”
For more coverage of fleeing wildlife, see the National Wildlife Federation's dramatic reports and images. For a theory on why 500 year floods now happen within a few years of each other, see Miles Grant's views on climate change, in a blog linked to the NWF website: not everyone agrees with the explanations he's gathered, but the other views also acknowledge the problems caused by human alterations--specifically the complex levee and dam systems. The now seeming impossible task of controlling on of the earth's most significant river systems was outlined decades ago by John McPhee in The New Yorker.
In many communities, local humane organizations are trying coordinate their efforts with community and national groups to address the needs of people and of their pets and neighboring wildlife during a crisis. Global Animal Foundation claims its mission is to be like a Red Cross for animals, but I do not know anything about the group's track record and would be glad to hear more about its track record.
Meanwhile, don't pray for rain.