Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2015)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2015 Investigation: ‘Every animal has a different story to tell’ places like them taken out of the way or buried, while others leave the animal where it washed up. Chandler and Boothe personal- ly like leaving the dead animals out where they can be recycled back into the food chain. “There are a lot of eagles out here that help clean these ani- mals up,” Chandler said. Continued from Page 1A Another whale caused a stir when Chandler and volunteers transported a dead orca to Fort Stevens State Park for a nec- ropsy. “I’ve never seen so many rubbernecking people,” Chan- dler said. But when the truck driver hauling the whale stopped for a bathroom break in Warren- ton, it really got some atten- tion. “All these people come run- ning out of Buoy 9, Is it Willy? Are you going to free him? Is he alive?’ It’s hilarious,” Chan- dler said. “Those are moments you don’t forget.” In the lab A chance to recover Many of the calls Chandler receives pertain to live animals on the beach. He emphasizes keeping people away from ani- mals so that the animals have a chance to recover or letting na- ture take its course. “I’m not a big believer in rehab,” Chandler said. “I think Darwin is right. Survival of the ¿WWHVW´ There is a misconception that marine mammals like seals and sea lions don’t belong on land and must be sick or injured if they’re out of the water, Chan- dler said. These animals actually may use the shore to rest, molt or recover from injury or illness. “We had a problem where people would see seal pups on the beach and they would actu- ally bring them into us,” Boothe said. “Like ‘save it!’ and it was like ‘Oh, actually, you need to put it back right where it was.’” The harbor seal pups some- times wait on land for their mothers to return and collect them. The pups are dependent on their mothers for about a month. The mother seal must perceive the area as safe before returning, so people and domes- tic animals have to stay away. “We don’t have those prob- lems anymore. Very rarely do we have someone bring a seal in, just because everybody’s more aware,” Chandler said. “And they’re all well-meaning people that do these things they shouldn’t do because they want to help the animal. And then once they’re aware that that’s the process the animal goes through … the best thing you can do is leave them alone, they actually tell other people, so it works.” They post signs around pin- nipeds warning humans, and their pets, to stay away and leave the animals undisturbed. Marine mammals can also transmit some diseases, like leptospiro- sis, a bacterial disease that can cause kidney failure, to humans and domestic animals. So stay- ing at least 50 feet away is safer for the marine mammals and their terrestrial counterparts. After receiving reports of stranded animals, Chandler must make a determination on how to respond. If the animal is sick or injured, he has to make a choice of whether to euthanize the animal or wait and see if the Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian People stop and watch as Tiffany Boothe, Seaside Aquarium’s administrative assistant, right, and research assistant Dalin D’Alessandro, left, collect a feces sample from a sea lion corpse. animal will recover. Usually, they wait. “People get — sometimes get — upset with us for not put- ting animals down, too,” Boothe said. “We don’t because you can’t know whether or not an animal’s going to make it, and that’s not really our call to make. There are so many animals that I’ve seen that I’m like, ‘that an- imal’s going to be dead the next day, he’s horrible.’ And then they’ll leave the beach and we don’t see them again.” There are no rehabilitation centers for marine mammals in the Northwest. “I’ve seen animals come back from amazing things,” Chandler said. That includes shark bites and bouts of disease. One group, the elephant seals, can appear to be in the process of dying while periodi- cally undergoing a natural pro- cess called “catastrophic molt,” replacing their old skin and hair. Chandler said there have been instances of these animals be- ing unnecessarily euthanized during the process because they seemed to be in so much pain. “The process of molting that they go through is horri- ble,” Chandler said. Horrible, and natural. “They smell, they stink.” But sometimes, the animals really are in trouble and do not recover. “We had a live whale wash ashore, right out in front of the Turnaround during the last phase of the volleyball tournament, and it was hot, and so you had just tons of people on the beach and you had this live beaked whale thrashing in the surf,” Boothe said. “But the beaked whale was already dying, like he was coming in because he was dying, so he was doing all these death throes and thrashes, and then you had a hundred to 200 people in the water with this Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Seaside Aquarium Manager Keith Chandler watches as Tiffany Boothe, the administrative assistant at the Sea- side Aquarium, and PSU research assistant Dalin D’Ales- sandro, perform a necropsy on a sea lion corpse that washed ashore on a Seaside beach. animal trying to push it back in.” “It was amazing that any- body didn’t get killed,” Chan- dler said. Getting people out of the water and out of danger was a priority. There was nothing that could be done for the whale. Not a fan of necropsies It wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever smelled on the job, but Chandler still tried to stand upwind of a decaying Steller sea lion corpse while Boothe and 'XI¿HOG¶V UHVHDUFK DVVLVWDQW Dalin D’Alessandro, got wrist- deep in the animal’s body cavity. Steller sea lions are listed as endangered in their western population, but not their east- ern population, which enjoys a range from southeast Alaska to Northern California. Two SLFNXS WUXFNV ÀDQNHG WKH QHF- ropsy site on the Seaside beach, just above the tide line with a few hours to go until the water reached them. An occasional beachgoer passed by — mostly upwind and away from the eau de dead sea lion. Maps: ‘We want to be able to head this off before a map is produced’ Continued from Page 1A The latest round of work represents Phase 2 in an on- going effort to show FEMA the errors of its map-making ways — namely, that FEMA’s estimates regarding the wave UXQXS DQG EDVH ÀRRG HOHYD- WLRQ IRU WKH \HDU ÀRRG along the Columbia River are EDVHG RQ ÀDZHG PRGHOLQJ DQGRYHUVWDWHWKHÀRRGULVNRI North Coast communities. “We want to be able to head this off before a map is produced,” Warrenton May- or Mark Kujala said. “This is the opportunity to make FKDQJHV DQG PRGL¿FDWLRQV DW this stage, and if we can’t get it done now, then we actually have to appeal the maps, and we don’t want to get to that point.” Basically, Phase 1 involved reconstructing FEMA’s model and pointing out issues with it, and Phase 2 will involve showing FEMA how it may change its methodology to re- solve those issues. As in Phase 1 — which didn’t include the Port of As- toria or Diking District No. 9 — Warrenton and the other participating agen- cies are consulting with Coast & Har- bor Engineering, a ¿UP EDVHG LQ (G- monds, Wash. Chandler is not a big fan of necropsies himself. He stood by offering assistance at arm’s length and documented the work with a digital camera. Much of the body had been heavily decomposed. By the barnacles that had begun to grow on the corpse and the level of decay, D’Alessandro estimat- ed the sea lion had been dead be- tween three weeks and a month before washing ashore. Boothe and D’Alessandro did what they could to determine the subadult male sea lion’s fate at the scene. Their hands gloved, the two women searched for parasites, tumors and hemor- rhages. The intestines seemed twisted — a sign of trauma. Most of the tissues were too far gone to collect, but they did manage to get a stool sample and the sea lion’s stomach. After the beach necropsies, D’Alessandro must make the return drive to Portland. “Usually on the drive home you’re catching those random whiffs,” she said. The contents of her pickup truck bed appear innocuous, squirreled away in coolers or wrapped in plastic bags. No hints to fellow drivers that science has hit the road. “Until they’re like, ‘What’s that smell?’” D’Alessandro said. What happens to the carcass depends on the locality. Some At Portland State University, 'XI¿HOG DQG KHU WHDP SURFHVV information from the necrop- sies. “Every animal has a different story to tell,” she said. 'XI¿HOG VSHFLDOL]HV LQ JH- netics of marine mammals and teaches classes on marine mam- mals at PSU. Coordinating with the stranding network is an ex- tension of her own interest. “We’re trying really hard to track potential diseases that can be transmitted to domes- tic animals or to humans,” she said. She estimates they handle between 140 and 190 cases an- nually. This year has been busy. The university is responsible for the necropsies. They collect all they can from the animals; in some cases, they bring the whole animal back to Portland. They look for bullets, pellets and other things that can give clues as to how the animals died. Often, they save the skeletons to evaluate what kind of bones show damage. The bones are also used in university museum exhibits and student instruction. :LWKKHU¿QJHUWRWKHSXOVH of marine mammal strandings, 'XI¿HOGKDVQRWLFHGDKLJKLQ- cidence of sea lion shootings in the region. “One of our real problems is people don’t shoot them nicely,” she said. “We see animals that are gut shot, their intestines all twisted.” Shooting the animals is ille- JDO'XI¿HOGVDLGEXWLISHRSOH are going to do it, they should at least be kind. Fishermen and some conser- vationists have complained that sea lions are competing for salm- on. But a lot of the animals Duff- ield sees do not even have salm- on in their stomachs, she said. “It just makes me really mad,” she said. of Astoria involved with the process.” In fact, FEMA asked the parties to do the additional work because the ¿QDQFLDOO\ VWUDSSHG Science on their agency cannot af- side ford to do it them- After Coast & selves, Warrenton Harbor reviewed City Manager Kurt Mark FEMA’s work, Fritsch said. “We’re Kujala FEMA concluded doing their work for “a lot of the issues that we them,” he said. had found were, in fact, legiti- :KHUHDV WKH ¿UVW SKDVH mate,” said Collin Stelzig, the cost approximately $20,000, lead engineer for the city of Phase 2 will cost up to Warrenton, at an Astoria City $27,700. Diking District No. Council meeting. 9 — a rural diking district on FEMA, Stelzig said, seems the east side of the Lewis and to agree with Coast & Har- Clark River — will contribute bor’s assessment that more $500; the other four agen- precise data is needed to pre- cies will split the remaining dict the behavior of the Co- $27,200. OXPELD 5LYHU DQG PDS ÀRRG Kujala extended his grat- areas in a way that “will rep- itude to Warrenton’s partners resent our coast the way that for taking the extra measure to we know it is.” help Clatsop County residents “We’ve got the science on and businesses avoid the bur- our side, and that’s why FE- den of extraordinary hikes in MA’s really buying in right ÀRRGLQVXUDQFHUDWHV now and saying, ‘Well, you’re “It is important for insur- probably right,’” he said. ance payers throughout the Stelzig added that “it’s made county to get this right, and quite an impact with FEMA, that’s what we’re determined having the county and the city to do,” he said. CITY OF ASTORIA Fou n d ed 1811 • In corp ora ted 1856 On Au gu s t 3 , 2015, the As to ria C ity C o u n c il a ppro ve d the fo llo w in g re c o m m e n d a tio n s fo r V o lu n ta ry W a te r C o n s e rva tio n : Check fa u cets a n d pipes fo r lea k s A s m a ll d rip fro m a w o rn fa u cet w a s her ca n w a s te 20 ga llo n s o f w a ter p er d a y. L a rger lea ks ca n w a s te hu n d red s o f ga llo n s . Avo id u s in g the to ilet a s a n a s htra y o r w a s teb a s k et E very tim e yo u flu s h a ciga rette b u tt, fa cia l tis s u e o r o ther s m a ll b it o f tra s h, five to s even ga llo n s o f w a ter is w a s ted . Check yo u r to ilets fo r lea k s Pla ce a little fo o d co lo rin g in yo u r to ilet ta n k. If, w itho u t flu s hin g, the co lo r b egin s to a p p ea r i n the b o w l w ithin 30 m in u tes , yo u ha ve a lea k tha t s ho u ld b e rep a ired . M o s t rep la cem en t p a rts a re in exp en s ive a n d ea s y to in s ta ll. In s ta ll w a ter-s a vin g s ho w er hea d s , lo w -flo w fa u cet a era to rs In exp en s ive w a ter-s a vin g lo w -flo w s ho w er hea d s o r res tricto rs a re ea s y fo r the ho m eo w n er to in s ta ll. Als o , lo n g, s ho w ers ca n u s e five to ten ga llo n s every u n n eed ed m in u te. In s u la te yo u r ho t w a ter pipes It is ea s y a n d in exp en s ive to in s u la te yo u r ho t w a ter p ip es w ith p re-s lit fo a m p ip e in s u la tio n . Y o u w ill get ho t w a ter fa s ter p lu s a vo id w a s tin g w a ter w hile it hea ts u p . Rin s e yo u r ra zo r in the s in k F ill the s in k w ith a few in ches o f w a rm w a ter. T his w ill rin s e yo u r ra zo r ju s t a s w ell a s ru n n in g w a ter, w ith fa r les s w a s te o f w a ter. Us e yo u r d is hw a s her a n d clo thes w a s her fo r o n ly fu ll lo a d s Au to m a tic d is hw a s hers a n d clo thes w a s hers s ho u ld b e fu lly lo a d ed fo r o p tim u m w a ter co n s erva tio n . M o s t m a kers o f d is hw a s hin g s o a p reco m m en d n o t p re-rin s in g d is hes w hich is a b ig w a ter s a vin gs . W ith clo thes w a s hers , a vo id the p erm a n en t p res s cycle, w hich u s es a n a d d ed 20 liters (5 ga llo n s ) fo r the extra rin s e. F o r p a rtia l lo a d s , rem em b er to a d ju s t w a ter levels to m a tch the s ize o f the lo a d . M in im ize u s e o f kitchen s in k ga rb a ge d is p o s a l u n its . In -s in k ‘d is p o s a ls ’ req u ire s ign ifica n t a m o u n ts o f w a ter in o rd er to o p era te p ro p erly. Co n s id er k eepin g a b o ttle o f d rin k in g w a ter in the frid ge Ru n n in g ta p w a ter to co o l it o ff fo r d rin kin g w a ter ca n b e w a s tefu l. S to re d rin kin g w a ter in the frid ge in a s a fe d rin kin g b o ttle. Co n s id er lettin g yo u r la w n go d o rm a n t Du rin g d ry s p ells , yo u ca n s to p w a terin g a lto gether a n d the la w n w ill go d o rm a n t. On ce co o ler w ea ther a rrives , the m o rn in g d ew a n d ra in fa ll w ill b rin g the la w n b a ck to its u s u a l vigo r. T his m a y res u lt in a b ro w n s u m m er la w n , b u t it s a ves a s ign ifica n t a m o u n t o f w a ter. Avo id lettin g the ho s e ru n w hile w a s hin g yo u r ca r a n d u s in g a b ro o m in s tea d o f a ho s e Clea n the ca r u s in g a p a il o f s o a p y w a ter. Us e the ho s e w ith a co n tro l n o zzle fo r rin s in g - this s im p le p ra ctice ca n s a ve a s m u ch a s 150 ga llo n s w hen w a s hin g a ca r. Us e a b ro o m in s tea d o f a ho s e to clea n s id ew a lks a n d d rivew a ys . CIT Y HAL L • D UANE S T REET • AS T O RIA, O REG O N 97103 • W W W .AS T O RIA.O R.US