NATURE CENTER WORKERS TAKE ANIMALS FROM FIRE TO SAFETY.Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer NEWHALL -- As soon as they saw black smoke curling over Placerita Canyon on Monday morning, the nature center's volunteers thought, ``Oh, boy.'' Thirty minutes after the park superintendent gave the word, Placerita Canyon Nature Center's volunteers and staff members had loaded cars and vans with dozens of flying and crawling animals, ready to evacuate them from the advancing Cross Fire. Valuable taxidermy taxidermy (tăk`sĭdûr'mē), process of skinning, preserving, and mounting vertebrate animals so that they still appear lifelike. was lined up by the front door. ``The (stuffed) bear and the mountain lion mountain lion: see puma. were going to be first on the bus because they were hard to get -- they were donated,'' said volunteer Heidi Webber. ``But the road kill could be replaced. We have a freezer with road kill in it.'' About 600 firefighters battled the canyon brushfire brush·fire also brush fire n. 1. A fire in low-growing, scrubby trees and brush. 2. A relatively minor crisis. adj. , which consumed about 900 acres and burned to the east end of Placerita Canyon Park but was contained about a mile-and-a-half from the facility. All of the center's animals were ferried safely to Hart Park in Newhall, and after spending a cozy night cage-to-cage on banquet tables in Hart Hall, they returned home Tuesday morning. About 10 volunteers and some support staff aided the four on-site staff members' efforts. little dicey at times trying to get the animals back and forth to the drop zone.'' Webber's husband, Bill, who had filled their car with caged owls and hawks and jammed a county van with crated snakes, tarantulas, lizards and frogs, had to convince California Highway Patrol highway patrol n. A state law enforcement organization whose police officers patrol the public highways. officers manning a roadblock to let him in for a second haul. This was the couple's fourth fire-season go-round, and Bill Webber said Rufus, the red-tailed hawk, was more stressed than he was. ``He has been there about 20 years and is only moved when there is a fire,'' he said. Rufus cracked open his beak and he was panting panting rapid, shallow breathing, a characteristic heat-losing reaction in dogs; represents an increase in dead-space ventilation resulting in heat loss without necessarily increasing oxygen uptake or carbon dioxide loss. . Another docent hauled Graham -- a 65-pound, 12-foot Burmese python -- in a perforated bag with wheels. Volunteer Pam Koch scooped salamanders and frogs -- who squeaked -- from aquariums in the classroom area. Heidi Webber, who serves on the center's board and publishes its newsletter, had her hands full trying to find animals in the blackness after the power died. ``I was reaching around in cages in the dark, kind of patting, looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. who I could find to grab,'' she said. ``Snakes don't come to their names.'' Fergie, the de-scented skunk skunk, name for several related New World mammals of the weasel family, characterized by their conspicuous black and white markings and use of a strong, highly offensive odor for defense. , was cooperative. ``He's such a sweetheart,'' she said. Nearly 400 utility customers in Canyon Country and surrounding areas lost their power a little after noon Monday, when Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. shut down part of a circuit to aid firefighters battling flames. Service was restored about 10:30 p.m., said SCE SCE (in Scotland) Scottish Certificate of Education SCE n abbr (= Scottish Certificate of Education) → Schulabschlusszeugnis in Schottland spokesman Tom Boyd. Swift called on one of his well-equipped neighbors for a little backup. Walt Disney's Golden Oak Ranch, whose property abuts the park -- and whose films feature animals with larger-than-life personalities -- lent its five-person on-site fire crew and water truck to the center for protection. ``They built a special underground water storage tank that was designed specifically for the Black Hawk firefighting helicopters,'' Swift said. ``In 2004, that water tank was completed two days before the Foothill Fire, and that tank enabled firefighters to save the nature center.'' judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com (661) 257-5255 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) A rattlesnake rattlesnake, poisonous New World snake of the pit viper family, distinguished by a rattle at the end of the tail. The head is triangular, being widened at the base. The rattle is a series of dried, hollow segments of skin, which, when shaken, make a whirring sound. , far right, adjusts after Monday's evacuation. Animals were evacuated from the Placerita Canyon Nature Center after a brushfire threatened the facility. Right, a regal-looking redtailed hawk after the ordeal. John McCoy/Staff Photography |
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