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California megadrought leaves state wildlife to perish under the scorching sun

It is expected that the small animals living in the lake are going to die as officials are planning not to transport the water in the lakes

BY PIYUSH ARORA

UPDATED AUG 25, 2022

Two lakes in California are drying up rapidly because of the drought, endagering wildlife (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images and Logan Mock-Bunting/Getty Images)

BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA: California’s punishing megadrought has shaken the state and left its nearly 40 million residents begging for water. But humans are not the only ones struggling with the tragic dry period. The historic dry spell has reportedly left the state’s wildlife to riot in the soaring sun.

Two small lakes, one at the park at the River Walk trail and the other along the Kern River Parkway on Truxtun Extension, are drying up and reshaping the habitats of vulnerable aquatic wildlife in the process.

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“This is the driest it’s been in 1200 years,” Richard O’Neil, the president of the Kern River Parkway Foundation told KGET “This is a three-year drought but it extends beyond that. It’s one drought upon the next drought.”

A dead sea turtle is seen washed onto shore April 14, 2011 in Waveland, Mississippi. Endangered sea turtles and dolphins are still dying in high numbers in Mississippi, which continues to be impacted by tar balls and weathered oil. There have been 67 reported sea turtle deaths in Mississippi through April 11 and many believe the BP spill is to blame. April 20th marks the one-year anniversary of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. — California drought effects wildlife (Mario Tama/Getty)

The two dried-up lakes are home to an abundance of wildlife, including turtles and birds. It is expected that all the small animals living in the lake are going to die as the officials are not planning to transport water to raise the level in the lakes. “Most of them will die,” O’Neil said. “The bird life, those that are lucky enough to fly away, they’ll find a place but most of them will die.”

Concerned Bakersfield locals are requesting that the officials take action in order to save the dying wildlife of those two lakes. “They either need to put some water in here or they need to rescue the turtles,” Susan McCoy a concerned Bakersfield animal lover said to KGET. “You can’t just establish this and get all the wildlife going and pull the plug. They don’t know what to do. This is their home. It’s just not right.”

Due to the megadrought rapidly depleting water resources of the state, officials are prioritizing water for homes and not for the lakes. “Water won’t be put back into that lake until after this winter,” O’Neil said. “If we’re lucky to get enough rain this year and snow there will be water back in Truxtun lake next late Spring.”

A dead tilapia fish, which have died by the millions in recent years, is seen on the shore of the Salton Sea on December 28, 2018 near Calipatria, California, United States. Scientists believe that the southern portion of the San Andreas Fault will inevitably give birth to a massive earthquake, bigger than any that has occurred in Southern California in modern history. On top of the fault lies a rift lake, the Salton Sea, which is the latest in a series of great lakes to form then dry up with the changing course of the Colorado River throughout geologic history. The changing weight of these lakes is thought to have had a regulating effect by triggering periodic approximately magnitude 7 earthquakes to relieve built up tectonic pressures. That process stalled when the Colorado River was tamed by technology in the early 1900's and pressure is building. The current Salton Sea, California's biggest lake, formed when an irrigation engineering project accident in 1905 allowed the Colorado River to flood into the Salton Sink and form the body of water that would become more visited than Yosemite Valley in the mid- 20th Century. It also became one of the most important stops for migrating birds in the North America. Now the increasingly salty water has killed most of the fish that millions of birds, such as white pelicans and eared grebes that make up 80 to 95 percent of the Western populations have relied on. The sea has spiraled into ecological collapse and is drying up after decades of debate and insufficient action have failed to stop it. The demise of the lake is now accelerating since some water that would normally flow into the sea has been sold to coastal cities. — (David McNew/Getty Images for Lumix)

All of California's 58 counties are in a moderate to severe drought state. The megadrought caused due to the lack of rain has escalated the need for water in the state. The state is also experiencing extremely hot temperatures, meaning lakes are evaporating more quickly. “Animals are going to have to get by with less and adapt,” said Jason Holley, supervising wildlife biologist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife told Time. “Those animals that can’t adapt aren’t going to survive.”

The drought not just dried up the habitats of the aquatic animals but also damaged the living conditions for small animals that live in woody areas. As the drought got worsened, many big and small animals moved to new places which increased the number of clashes between these homeless animals and their new human neighbors.