Important Info

Hi Everyone –

Spring is here. Birds are singing. Flowers and trees are blooming. Baby animals are frolicking about. Dramatic skies move overhead.

But it isn’t always baby prairie dogs and rainbows here at Dinosaur – sometimes things die. Sometimes they happen to die or fall ill in our developed areas where staff and visitors come upon them.

This is a great time to review guidance on what to do if you encounter or get a report about a dead or sick/injured animal in developed and high visitation areas. Attached are two documents on how to handle and when to report dead and sick/injured animals. Please become reacquainted with how to handle these events and give copies to all new and returning seasonals.

I’d also like to scare everyone senseless and remind staff how many wildlife diseases are out there. The good news is that every single wildlife disease we assume to be present at some level here at Dinosaur is preventable with some basic, common sense precautions. Please take the time to orient yourself and your staff to the wildlife disease FAQs and prevention resources available on the Safety Sharepoint site for hantavirus, plague, rabies, tularemia and more!

Tamara and I will be covering these and other indoor/outdoor and front country/backcountry wildlife topics at the New/All Employee meeting on May 17.

From: Emily Spencer