I am a wildlife and nature photographer and docent naturalist at Placerita Canyon State Park. I am concerned about human-caused challenges like global warming, habitat loss, poaching, wildlife pet trade and illegal hunting that are major causes of wildlife extinctions worldwide. I am also concerned with non-human-caused challenges, like natural severe weather conditions, and diseases that cause wildlife deaths.
At Placerita Canyon’s oak woodlands, riparian wetlands and chaparral habitats within the surrounding San Gabriel Mountains of the Angeles National Forest, there are two major causes of death affecting mule deer.
The San Gabriel Mountains connect with the northern San Fernando Valley, Ventura County, Antelope Valley, the Santa Clarita Valley, and northern L.A. County. The San Gabriel Mountains’ various habitats consist of woodland, forest, chaparral, riparian, and a seasonal stream inhabited by various rare, endangered, and threatened species, like California condors, mountain yellow legged frogs, salamanders, Nelson’s bighorn sheep, California spotted owls, and various non-threatened species. Placerita Canyon’s neighboring habitat consists of species like Peregrine falcons, salamanders, black bears, mountain lions, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, mule deer, cotton-tailed rabbits, amphibians, reptiles, rodents, and various avian species including red shouldered hawks, Coopers hawks, red tailed hawks, various song birds and hummingbirds.
Native plants and fungi fill the San Gabriel Mountains environment, including the chaparral’s dense shrubs, the woodland’s oak trees, walnut woodlands, and in the forests, Douglas fir and native grey pine. At Placerita Canyon State Park, the woodlands are filled with live oak and canyon oak trees, sycamore trees and alder, willow and cotton trees that run along seasonal streams.
California toads, salamanders and Pacific tree frogs fill the stream and pond at Placerita Canyon. At Placerita and surrounding mountains, black tailed mule deer feed on shrubs and trees.
When traveling on Placerita Canyon Road out of the suburbs of the SCV and into the canyons and surrounding woodlands, mule deer are struck by vehicles at an alarming rate. There are no street lamps to light up the road at dusk and at night, as it consists of canyons surrounded by woodlands with very few ranches along Placerita, thus it is a hazard for wildlife that crosses the road. Mule deer are killed, with two to three fatalities seen on any given day along Placerita Canyon Road. According to the city of Santa Clarita, the speed limit isn’t specified on Placerita Canyon Road unless a sign is posted. I have seen a posted speed limit sign just past the front entrance to Placerita Canyon State Park that states the speed limit as 50 mph. Very few drivers follow the posted speed limit, though, and several mule deer are killed by collisions due to that rate of speed with more challenging conditions happening at night with just the headlamps of vehicles shining on the road at night. A majority of mule deer fatalities could be prevented if drivers would be more cautious with their speed, especially at night.
I found a fawn lying on Placerita Canyon Road near the front entrance to the park a few months ago, and I paused and cried a soft tear at the sight of the peaceful deer, no longer a live fawn that would grow to be an adult to live out its beautiful life in the mountains and woodlands. I captured a few images and was amazed at the beauty of that little fawn so still and peaceful in a different spiritual realm than I was in. It was such a sad yet beautiful experience to witness the beauty of this deer just inches from me, as I gazed at her brown and white spotted body, with those large mule ears and black tail. I will remember that morning forever.
Chronic wasting disease
Chronic wasting disease, known as “zombie deer disease,” is a contagious, fatal neurological disease that affects mule deer, elk, moose and reindeer all over North America. CWD was originally discovered in Colorado’s mule deer in 1967 and since expanded across 34 states. In Canada, CWD is endemic in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where it affects mule deer and white tailed deer, with less of an effect on elk and moose populations. On May 6, the state Fish and Wildlife Department confirmed two cases of CWD in mule deer in California, with a mule deer tested in Madera County that was found dead, and in a mule deer road kill in Inyo County, near Bishop. California is the 34th state to report CWD in hoofed populations.
Placerita Park Superintendent Russ Kimura believes mule deer carcasses found near the Canyon Trail approximately 2 miles east of Placerita Canyon State Park and near the Water Fall Trail by several hikers in the past two months, including skull bones and limb bones in various locations near the trail, weren’t caused by predatory attacks or old age and are being attributed to CWD, as there have been a few carcasses and bones found in the last few months that had no signs of predation and seemed to be youthful in appearance. It is sad, if in fact that is the case, as to what is causing the recent deaths of mule deer in Placerita Canyon’s region.
CWD causes progressive severe weight loss, stumbling, weakness, increased thirst, increased urination, excessive salivation, and behavioral effects like lowered social interactions, loss of awareness, and loss of fear of humans which could contribute to the vehicular collisions if those conditions existed in infected animals.
Animal-to-animal transmissions happen frequently and are spread by infected mule deer waste, spread in the environment, found in the soil and on plants where the CWD prions are released, as well as direct contact with other animals. Animal scavengers like coyotes and crows that feed on infected carcasses spread the prions as well, contaminating the soil and plants in woodlands and canyons. No CWD infections have spread from animal to human, though animal to human diseases are frequently found, so hopefully the Food and Drug Administration will research and discover a vaccine, or a treatment, for CWD before it ever spreads from animal to human or spreads through infected deer meat that Indigenous hunters or sport hunters eat or that gets sold to grocery chains.
Jayme Sun Thomas is a docent naturalist at Placerita Canyon State Park.
