Human trash can be rough on wildlife

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

Hunting and fishing, ancient rituals in food gathering, have some nobility. The knowledge of an animal suffering or dying because people don't pick up after themselves is exactly the opposite.

Steve Znamenacek, district wildlife officer with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said all human trash is potentially dangerous to wildlife, including fishing line and hooks, old fencing or anything an animal might eat.

Znamenacek said he climbed high up a tree near Dowdy Lake in Red Feather Lakes to unravel a crow that was hanging upside-down by fishing line. He said he's happy to report they both survived the experience.

"It's hard for any of us to watch an animal suffer, no matter what it is," he said.

DOW District Wildlife Officer Jim Jackson said last fall a mature buck lived to see another day in Glacier View Meadows when a DOW team darted it and freed it from the orange mesh livestock fencing that was strangling it by the neck. The mesh was entwined all around the deer's antlers, nearly breaking off one of them. That kind of ribbon electric fencing was just left behind by somebody who moved or didn't have horses anymore, Jackson said.

Another time, Jackson said, he helped dart and rescue a bull elk tangled in old phone wire lying on the ground.

In 2006, Jackson said, he released a newborn moose calf caught in wire south of Parvin Lake in Red Feather Lakes. "The cow moose was pretty frightening until we got the situation under control," he said.

Jackson said people need to be aware of what they are leaving behind when they snap off that fishing line or discard wire, glass bottles or other potential hazards. He said any water bird is particularly at risk for getting tangled in fishing line, including ducks, geese and wading birds like herons and egrets.