Publisher’s Notebook

• Malibu’s Disposable Nature •

ANNE SOBLE

I had hoped that devoting a cover of The News to nesting birds and a plea to spare their young might make a difference in enough people’s tree trimming habits. While I am pleased that so many people sent us word that our message prompted a delay in cosmetic arbor work, there are still those whose commitment to a pruning timetable surpasses any desire to give nature leeway when it is most vulnerable.
This little tyke (yes, that’s a human hand the baby bird is sitting on) is a casualty of a recent tree trimming assignment that inexplicably couldn’t—or wouldn’t—be postponed for a few more weeks until most young birds have left their nests.
Instead, this tiny puffball of white down—tentatively identified as a baby screech owl—is now at one of the area’s avian rehab facilities, where it was taken after it was found on the ground, still half in its shell, next to the remnants of a shredded nest and other broken eggs. The bird’s prognosis is regarded as “challenging” at best, as most of the babies ripped from the avian counterpart of the womb too soon don’t make it. Is the symmetry of a few tree limbs worth such meaningless loss of bird life?
Not all of the wildlife endangered by humans at this time of year is in trees. Although coyotes may have their detractors among some writers of letters to the editor, they are an intrinsic part of the natural balance in our area. Young coyotes are now starting to assert themselves, and this can mean more sightings than usual until the critical sense that our species is to be avoided kicks in, as it ultimately does, if we don’t make the mistake of leaving out food or other enticements that attract wild animals.
The same is true with other young wildlife—I encountered a feisty opossum and two curious raccoons last week—that inadvertently crosses the imaginary lines between wilderness and civilization that zig-zag throughout all of Malibu. Whenever possible, we should give these critters the space they need to make a hasty retreat and not subject them to capture and relocation, or an even worse fate.