8A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL July 8, 2015
High water temps
stressful on fi sh,
says ODFW
Stop the fawn-napping:
ODFW reminds
people to not pick up
fawns or other young
wildlife
One fawn had to be euthanized
due to malnutrition and its over-
all poor condition.
Western Oregon’s black-tailed
deer give birth in early June.
Similar to many wild species,
they will leave newborn fawns
alone for several hours or even
the better part of a day while
off foraging. They will return
to collect their fawn and feed it,
provided they sense no danger.
“Never assume a fawn or oth-
er young animal found hiding,
standing or wandering alone
in the wild is orphaned,” says
Herman Biederbeck, ODFW
district wildlife biologist in Til-
lamook. “Give young wildlife
a wide berth and leave them
alone. The parent animal will
return to collect their offspring
when humans aren’t around and
they feel safe.”
“Only if you see the parent
animal dead should you assume
a young animal is orphaned,” he
continued. “Then call ODFW,
OSP or a wildlife rehabilitator
to get guidance and assistance
on what to do with the animal
before you touch it.”
Most fawns collected by good
Samaritans this time of year
are not orphaned, and remov-
ing them from the wild compli-
cates their chances for survival
and a long life in the wild. These
fawns will miss the chance to
learn important survival skills
from their parent like where to
feed, what to eat, how to behave
as part of a group and how to es-
cape from predators.
Offbeat Oregon History
8:40 a.m., that he learned that
the Rosecrans was a mile and a
half out to sea, at the end of Pea-
cock Spit. He’d spent the hours
before dawn thoroughly search-
ing the wrong side of the river.
The lookout in the tower at Cape
Disappointment had spotted the
wreck shortly after dawn.
Wicklund rushed across the
river to help. Once there, he
joined the crew of Cape Disap-
pointment Lifestation Keeper
Alfred Rimer, who commanded
another of the new gasoline-
powered motor lifeboats, and
they set out together for the
scene of the wreck.
Both crews were equipped
with the doughty 34-foot “Mer-
ryman” type motor lifeboats,
which had been developed just
a few years before by installing
gasoline engines in the standard
self-bailing, self-righting rescue
lifeboats of the day. They were
the state of the art in 1912; but
their primitive engines — mas-
sive 414-cubic-inch four-cylin-
der jobs built by Holmes Mo-
tor Co., rated at 25 horsepower
— weren’t powerful enough to
P
icking up a newborn fawn
all by itself in the wild
and taking it home to care for it
might seem like the right thing
to do. But ODFW wildlife biol-
ogists call it “fawn-napping”—
and OSP calls it a violation of
wildlife laws, which prohibit
taking animals out of the wild,
transporting them or keeping
them at home.
Across Oregon, ODFW dis-
trict offi ces and wildlife reha-
bilitators say they have fi elded
dozens of calls in recent weeks
urging people to think fi rst and
not pick up fawns (or elk calves,
baby seals, cougar or bobcat kit-
tens, bear cubs, fl edgling birds,
or other young wildlife born in
spring.) In several cases, people
have been advised to put fawns
back where they found them.
A few fawns have gone to a li-
censed wildlife rehabilitator.
Rosecrans rescue one of
Coast Guard’s fi nest hours
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
I
n any great disaster, it’s al-
ways possible to fi nd one or
two pivot points at which a key
decision made disaster all but
inevitable.
In the wreck of the tanker
steamship S.S. Rosecrans, there
were several of these; most
great disasters come at the end
of a chain of unlucky breaks,
and this was no exception. And
there’s a great deal that can’t
ever be known, since none of
the ship’s offi cers survived.
But a strong case can be made
that the Rosecrans’ doom was
ensured by the catastrophic
fi re that had gutted the ship six
months previously, in Califor-
nia.
That experience seems to have
made the Rosecrans’ captain,
Lucien Johnson, extremely wor-
ried about the risk of fi re — un-
reasonably so. So much so that
when the radio operator started
transmitting SOS calls, Johnson
ordered him to stop, for fear that
the bright blue spark from the
transmitter would catch some
stray fumes from the hold and
set the cargo ablaze. (Remem-
ber, this was in the midst of
a 60-knot gale.) And the ship
never launched a single distress
fl are — most likely because
Captain Johnson wouldn’t allow
any pyrotechnic risks.
As a result, when the Rose-
crans struck the sand and the
breakers doused her engines,
she was left helpless and invis-
ible and silent in the blackness,
without even enough steam to
blow her whistle.
And no one knew where she
was.
Legendary Point Adams
Lifestation Keeper Oscar Wick-
lund later testifi ed that, had the
lifesavers known where the
Rosecrans was stranded, the en-
tire crew would likely have been
saved with relative ease within a
few hours.
What happened instead was
one of the worst maritime disas-
ters of Oregon history, and one
of the most spectacular rescue
performances in the history of
the U.S. Coast Guard (or U.S.
Lifesaving Service, as it was
then called).
The wireless operator in Asto-
ria had told Wicklund the wreck
had likely happened on Clatsop
Spit on the Oregon side of the
river; so he sent a patrol out on
the beach to look, launched his
new gasoline-powered motor
lifeboat and hurried out to look
for the ship while the tide was
still slack. On the way he met
up with a tugboat, the Tatoosh,
and the two vessels hunted all
across the storm-swept bar with
no luck.
As the tide started coming in,
Wicklund and his boat returned
to the station. It was then, around
“Nothing humans do can
substitute for the natural learn-
ing experience life in the wild
provides,” says Colin Gillin,
ODFW wildlife veterinarian.
“Research has shown that re-
habilitated fawns have lower
survival than their wild-raised
counterparts. The fawns that
have the best chance of a long
life learn life skills from a par-
ent animal.”
However, fawns that are truly
orphaned and picked up in the
fi rst week or two of life will
only survive under the care of
a licensed wildlife rehabilitator
with specialized knowledge and
facilities to provide appropri-
Vickie
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Promoting community jobs for people
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Read more
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ate care. Rehabilitators working
with fawns and other wildlife
try to use methods that limit
human interaction and mimic
the animal’s natural lifestyle as
much as possible, so the animal
has the best chance of survival
when returned to the wild.
ODFW has also been success-
ful in placing known orphaned
week-old fawns with wild fos-
ter does that have similar-aged
offspring. Under the right cir-
cumstances, mother does will
foster fawns that aren’t their
own. ODFW veterinarians have
found that later in the summer
as the fawns get older in age, it
becomes more diffi cult to inte-
grate the animal into established
doe/fawn groups, particularly
fawns that have been held by
humans and are habituated and
lack normal fawn behaviors.
Biologists have also observed
that older fawns that become
orphaned in late summer have
learned enough skills from their
parent animal to survive their
fi rst winter and become a wild
and vital part of Oregon’s wild-
life community.
muscle the 11,000-pound rescue
boats across the bar against the
combined fury of the gale and a
strong fl ood tide.
By now the sun was up,
though, and the rescuers could
see the Rosecrans — or what
remained of it.
“All that could be seen of the
wreck was the mast sticking up
S
ummer conditions have
come early to Oregon, and
in many places fi sh like trout,
salmon, steelhead and sturgeon
are struggling with low water
levels and high water tempera-
tures.
“Normally we see these
kinds of conditions later in the
summer, not in late June and
early July,” said Rick Hargrave,
ODFW Information and Educa-
tion Division Administrator. In
response, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife is
asking anglers to take precau-
tions when fi shing during these
drought conditions.
“When streams get too warm,
fi sh are stressed, and as a result
the fi shing goes downhill fast,”
said Rick Hargrave, ODFW In-
formation and Education Divi-
sion Administrator. “Fish stop
biting or retreat to deeper, cool-
er water where they are harder
to catch.”
On days when temperatures
soar, anglers can do their part to
reduce the stress fi sh are under.
Hargrave recommends the fol-
lowing when fi shing in waters
that include native fi sh you in-
tend to release:
Fish early in day when water
temperatures are cooler.
Use a thermometer to check
water temperatures frequently.
Stop fi shing when temperatures
exceed 70 degrees.
Look for trout in deep, high el-
evation lakes or shaded streams
near headwaters. These places
are often cooler.
Use barbless hooks so you
can release fi sh easily.
Use the appropriate gear and
land fi sh quickly. The longer the
fi ght, the less likely the fi sh will
survive.
Keep the fi sh in the water
when you unhook it and cradle
the fi sh upright until it revives
enough to swim away.
Use your judgment. If con-
ditions where you want to fi sh
seems especially severe (low,
hot water), consider fi shing
somewhere else where water
conditions are better.
Check the regulation update
pages on the ODFW website be-
fore you head out to make sure
temporary emergency regula-
tions have not been put in place
for the waters you want to fi sh.
“If drought conditions con-
tinue, it’s possible we may have
to close or restrict some fi sher-
ies in order to protect fi sh,” Har-
grave said.
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 10A
Signature Homes
with three men clinging to the
rigging,” Wicklund wrote in his
report afterward. “I did not have
much hope of reaching the ves-
sel, but I thought it would en-
BY S HERRY
courage the men in the rigging
if they saw the lifeboat con-
stantly trying to reach them. I
made two attempts, but the boat
was entirely submerged, and we
1054 E VAN BUREN AVE
were forced to return.”
Back at the station, the two
OPEN HOUSE
lifestation keepers conferred.
SAT. JULY 11TH 11-1
They would make another at-
tempt as soon as the tide slack-
Room and more room. Picture
ened, they decided.
perfect. A must see 1 level beauty,
“We made up our minds that
hardwood fl oors, built in book
we would not quit trying as long
as there was anyone left in the
case, updated kitchen, large spa-
rigging,” Wicklund wrote.
cious rooms and lots of storage.
By 12:30, the tide was slack
A home you’ll be proud to own.
once again, and the motor life-
Price$174,990 MLS#15586361
boats set out. This time, they
made it — although their crews
were drenched continually by
the heavy 624
boarding
seas.
HARDING
PL
“I ran in as close as I dared
OPEN
… and signaled
to the HOUSE
men in
the rigging
to jump,”
Wicklund
SAT.
JULY
11TH 1-3
wrote.
“I
circled
fi
ve
times,
Be the fi rst one to live and
in this
got as near the vessel as I dared
brand
new
home.
each
time …
but custom
they would
not Move in
do ready.
it. As we
got near
the wreck
Tons
of room
and all done
a fi to
fth perfection.
time, a terrifi Th
c sea
struck home
is 2-story
our boat, turning it almost end
has
separation
of space, 1st
over
end great
and washing
fi ve mem-
master
with vaulted
bers fl oor
of the
crew overboard,
in- ceiling
cluding
myself.”
and a sliding door leading to the
For the rescuers, this was just
Th e albeit
home
ers the great room concept, custom cabinets, patio off the
part patio.
of the job,
an off
unpleas-
a fi
replace. Th e 2nd story has additional 2 bedroom &1 bath
ant dinning
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waited and
for the
boat
to fl and
ip back
upright,
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back aboard, and went to pick
up one of their number who’d
drifted 300 yards away. Then
they saw a signal from Rimer’s
Advantage SHERRY
boat, which was wallowing low
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R
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