Rising surface air temperature due to climate change is leaving animals, insects and birds among others at the receiving end.
Wildlife activists and scientists have flagged concerns that due to increasing weather conditions there has been a spike in cases of birds, and animals like jumbos and reptiles falling ill.
“Climate change is jeopardising the survival of many animal and bird species. In some cases, it’s pushed them up the endangered animal species list. Moreover, a certain section of animals such as Red Panda is severely affected by these deadly heat waves more than others as their food is on decline,” said Kartick Satyanarayan from the SOS Wildlife, a non-profit organization engaged in the rescue of animals in distress in the country.
Satyanarayan added that his colleagues have been busy with treating a record number of birds for conditions such as fever, dehydration and heatstroke as temperatures rose to a sweltering 46 degrees Celsius (118.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in Delhi-NCR early this year.
If Wildlife SOS treated over 300 birds with heat-related illnesses in the summer, a media report said that a rescue group in Hyderabad retrieved more than 150 dehydrated birds. Similarly, a bird hospital in Gurgaon saw an intake of 1.5 times the usual number of birds, compared to previous years.
In March alone, the Wildlife SOS Rapid Response Unit rescued nearly 120 birds, which included 30 kites and more than 70 pigeons. April remained busier for our Rapid Response Unit in Delhi-NCR as they rescued a whopping 156 birds including 82 Black kites and 42 pigeons. Other birds included mynah, peacocks, Barn owl, Shikras and doves, to name a few, wrote Neellohit Banerjee in a report compiling the rescue work of the SOS Wildlife.
India recorded its hottest March in 122 years, while Delhi reportedly experienced its second hottest April in 72 years. In fact, the avian population of the NCR region has been the most hit by the heat in May 2022. As per the SOS Wildlife data, a total of 176 birds — kites, bulbuls, parakeets — were rescued from this region in May.
Most of these birds were suffering from dehydration or heatstroke. Even the Agra team had a busy time running across the city, rescuing 40 birds from the scorching heat. The list included an Egyptian vulture, Barn owl and Shikra, among others. The numbers could be higher given that many cases of birds suffering with heatstroke go unreported as many do not get timely help.
Situation in northern India’s Kashmir was also not encouraging. The Wildlife SOS rescue activists received 19 snake rescue calls in April this year as compared to just one in 2021! This was also caused by a warming Kashmir, where snakes do not emerge during the colder months of March and April. In May a total 24 snakes were rescued, as per the NGO website.
Due to extreme heat waves caused by a rapidly-changing climate, draughts-like crises have become more severe across wild habitats. Therefore, a severe water shortage impacted a number of animals such as tigers, leopards, civets and foxes. Even elephants need enormous amounts of freshwater, without which their daily lives, including their breeding and migration patterns, can be negatively affected, said Satyanarayan.
As water becomes scarce for wild animals, food shortage presents another problem up in the high Himalayas. Snow leopards are facing a depletion of their food sources as their high-altitude habitat alters. Global warming is gradually shifting the treeline higher, thereby fragmenting and shrinking invaluable snow leopard habitat, said the wildlife activist.
A team of 70 scientists from 19 countries too have painted a bleak picture about the climate change threat posed on the insects. It warned that if no steps are taken to shield insects from climate change, the consequences will “drastically reduce our ability to build a sustainable future based on healthy, functional ecosystems.”
Citing research from around the world, the team noted many of the insects have been declining for decades. “Global warming and extreme weather events already threaten some insects with extinction-and it will only get worse if current trends continue. Some insects will be forced to move to cooler climes to survive, while others will face impacts to their fertility, life cycle and interactions with other species.
“Such drastic disruptions to ecosystems could ultimately come back to bite people,” explained Anahà EspÃndola, an assistant professor of entomology and a co-author of the paper published in Ecological Monographs.