By Staci Matlock/The New Mexican

Bobcats in the yard. Bull snake in the kitchen.

Residents around Northern New Mexico are seeing an increased number of normally elusive wildlife up close and personal as drought drives the animals to seek food and water. Staff at The Wildlife Center in Española are fielding calls daily from residents concerned about the distressed wildlife they are finding.

Most recently, a starving Western screech owl from Las Campanas near Santa Fe and a family of thirsty bobcats were brought to the center. A woman in Taos found a bullsnake in her kitchen.

“People are just finding wildlife in their yard they don’t usually see,” said Katherine Eagleson, executive director of The Wildlife Center.

The center specializes in helping injured wildlife recover and return to the wild. “What is disturbing is the number of birds and animals we are getting now that aren’t injured, they are just starved and dehydrated,” Eagleson said. “They’re so weak that by the time we get them, their livers have shut down,” Eagleson said. We’ve been able to save some, but we’ve lost others.”

Starving songbirds are among the species coming to the center now, and that is rare, Eagleson said. Birds and raptors being brought to the shelter have lost up to 30 percent of their weight.

Veterinarians check the animals as they are brought in, and Wildlife Center staff follow instructions for caring for the animals.

As drought tightens its grip around the state for the third consecutive year, plants, insects and the animals and birds that depend on them suffer greater impacts. “The first year or two you might not see as many impacts,” Eagleson said.

More than 81 percent of New Mexico is now in extreme to exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Lack of vegetation and insects reduces the populations of mice, rats and other small mammals on which larger mammals, snakes and raptors depend for food.

The wildlife ends up in people’s yards, where there is food and water. “People are struggling to find ways to deal with it,” Eagleson said.

Residents can call the state Department of Game and Fish to remove bears, bobcats, cougars, deer and other large mammals. But they’re on their own when it comes to snakes, skunks, raccoons and other nongame species.

The Wildlife Center doesn’t have the resources to capture and remove all the animals.

Eagleson said people can set pans of water around the periphery of their properties to help wildlife while keeping them away from their yards and homes.

People should also keep bird feeders well away from their houses. While birds need the food, the seed attracts rodents and bears. Preferably people should bring the bird feeders in the house at night so as not to attract wildlife, said Dan Williams, a public information officer with the state Department of Game and Fish. Trash and dog food also should be kept in sturdy containers, preferably in a garage or storage shed, to discourage bears.

Otherwise, “bears become habituated to people and it is almost like a death sentence,” Williams said.

People who find young wildlife alone near roads or trails or near their homes shouldn’t assume the parents aren’t nearby, said Williams. Does, for example, will leave their fawns hidden in grass or other vegetation to go foraging. Well-intentioned people who move the fawns are essentially stealing the babies from their moms, Williams said. “It is really heart breaking. The fawns often don’t survive,” he said.

“Their chances of surviving are way, way better if just leave them alone,” Williams said.

For more information about The Wildlife Center, www.thewildlifecenter.org/.

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com or follow her @stacimatlock.

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