After Beryl, Houstonians rush to rescue injured and abandoned wildlife left by the storm

On the morning Hurricane Beryl hit, just hours after the storm began blasting through the Houston area, Brooke Yahney drove through a torrential downpour and shuddering winds to feed animals in need.

As director of wildlife at the Houston SPCA, she knew it would not be a regular work day. She was right. It would be 8:30 p.m. before she finally left, after the organization had taken in hundreds of raptors, egrets, opossums and squirrels.

Almost immediately after Beryl tore through Houston, leaving a path of torn-up trees and battered homes and more than 2 million homes and businesses without power , the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals faced a day-long line of Houstonians with injured wildlife at its center just north of Memorial Park. The storm had knocked hundreds of baby birds from their nests, separated week-old opossums from their mothers and destroyed the habitat of many others.

Normally, the intake at the SPCA is about 40 to 50 animals a day. A day after the day after the storm, that figure surpassed 700. By week’s end, some 1,800 animals had come through the doors.

The harmful effects of urbanization and habitat loss already negatively impact wildlife populations, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. That means hurricanes and other extreme weather events can damage an already fragile ecosystem and declining species.

For wildlife experts, saving an injured animal after a storm is a way to aid already-endangered animals.

“Humans impact these guys so heavily, so the dent we are making in their survival after Beryl is not really covering the amount of negative impacts we already have,” Yahney said. “So, we’re doing our best to counter that in ways like this.”

Human intervention

On July 9, the SPCA was taking care of nearly 600 egrets. Some had come through the intake line, but most had been collected the day Hurricane Beryl landed following calls from residents in northwest Houston about egret babies on the ground.

An SPCA team subsequently found hundreds of egret hatchlings that had been knocked from their nests during the storm. Many were dead, many more were injured. Neighborhood residents had ventured out after Beryl to find fuzzy, wet blobs of feathers as well as cracked and crushed eggs on the ground.

At the same time, SPCA staff and volunteers were fielding numerous calls and dropoffs from residents – mostly egrets and Mississippi Kites, a small gray and white bird of prey.

“It was exhausting, but I thought we all handled it as well as we could,” said Jessica Urzua, a wildlife care specialist who helped take in the animals that day. “We ended up having to send animals to some of our partners in the area, which was really helpful. There were so many coming in.”

Hurricanes long have impacted wildlife on the Texas coast. Nests and breeding grounds often are destroyed, killing animals and leaving surviving wildlife to find new habitat, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

In one case, in Houston during Hurricane Harvey, a Mexican free-tailed bat colony living under the Waugh Bridge was ravaged by flooding that displaced and killed thousands of them.

That kind of displacement can cause an increase in human-wildlife conflict.

“When you see flooding and high winds, that forces wildlife out of their home ranges,” said Addison Gaines, a TPWD urban wildlife specialist for Houston. “We’ve been getting calls this summer of alligators showing up in odd places, like in retention ponds and lakes. Could be Beryl or it could be other storms we’ve had.”

The storms also can impact migration patterns and reproduction as young birds tumble out of nests or are left to fend for themselves.

Houstonians frequently have gone out of their way to rescue wildlife following major storms such as Beryl and Harvey.

The question of whether they should is a tricky one, Gaines said.

“Wildlife has, indeed, historically managed to go on without human intervention,” she said. “But also the environmental landscape has been so significantly altered by human activity. So, responsible intervention sometimes can be necessary and beneficial for wildlife.”

It really comes down to a case-by-case basis, Gaines said. Residents should seek advice from professional wildlife experts, such as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, before reacting to an injured wild animal.

“The animal is going to be really stressed out,” she said. “Don’t make contact unless you know you can.”

Resilient wildlife

On Wednesday, a week after the storm, Urzua is at the SPCA, taking calls from residents. The room is packed with incubation tanks and cages. Other rooms are used for surgeries, triaging and more animal cages.

The far end of the wall is full of opposums. A few incubation tanks have baby squirrels – so small they have yet to open their eyes. Hatchling Mississippi kites give off high pitch calls.

The day after Beryl blew through Houston, the SPCA had received 233 kites and 170 squirrels.

Intake has dropped back to normal this week, Urzua said, after hopping off a call from a resident concerned about a turtle. It had nothing to do with the storm, she noted. Just another day at the SPCA.

The high number of young birds and hatchlings taken in by rescuers is due in part to Beryl’s timing. Because the storm hit Houston so early in the summer, many birds still were nesting with unhatched eggs or very young hatchlings. Cattle egret nesting is at its peak in June and July. For Mississippi kites, the nesting season is in May and June.

The challenges for urban wildlife and Texas wildlife are expected to increase. Hurricanes and other natural disasters are predicted to increase in severity and frequency, leaving little room for wildlife to rebound before the next disaster hits, Gaines said.

There is some hope, however, especially for animals living in urban areas, Gaines said.

“A lot of this urban wildlife is able to thrive in many different environmental conditions,” she said. “While these storms and climate change and all these other stressors have a negative impact, I think wildlife is becoming very adaptable in recovering.”