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    Amelia Viera

    Amelia Viera, at the scene of a mountain lion (not pictured) spotted in a tree in Los Angeles County.

    Three scientist sedated a mountain lion to attach a radio collar - click to enlarge in new window
    Assisting in attaching a collar to mountain lion in the Santa Monica Mountains. Click to enlarge.

    Scientist, Amelia Viera in a helicopter for an aerial deer survey - click to enlarge in new window
    On aerial deer survey in San Diego County, Fall of 2019. Click to enlarge.

    Three scientist attaching a trail camera to a tree branch for sheep survey - click to enlarge in new window
    Putting up a trail camera for sheep survey near State Route 39. Click to enlarge.

    Three scientist loading an immobilized bear into the back of a truck to move to animal care facility - click to enlarge in new window
    Loading immobilized bear into truck for move to animal care facility. Click to enlarge.

    It made perfect sense that CDFW environmental scientist Amelia Viera wanted to be a biology teacher. That was the high school topic she fell in love with, and she credited her teacher for making the subject so interesting. But it wasn’t long after getting her feet wet as a substitute teacher that she arrived at a slightly different career decision. She realized she wanted to practice biology, not just teach it.

    Her degree in Anthropology was earned at UC Davis, but Amelia wanted to be closer to her family in Ontario. She returned to Southern California where she landed her first job with CDFW as a scientific aid. Now she’s a wildlife biologist, most often handling calls about bears and mountain lions straying a little too close to humans.

    What’s a typical day for a biologist in Southern California? You must be on the road constantly.

    There is no typical day since every day is different. I’m working in Los Angeles County so yes, a lot of that time is being stuck in traffic. I often go to foothill communities because they tend to experience the most human wildlife interaction. We get bears stuck on somebody’s property or a mountain lion that’s stuck in a tree on a property. I respond to those incidents with a wildlife officer just to be on the safe side, and we sometimes have to manage public involvement with a situation like that, because people are very curious about what’s going on.

    What’s the biologist’s role in those situations?

    I’m usually the one that does the immobilization. I’ll take the lead in making any necessary additional contacts if the animal is injured – for example, calling a CDFW veterinarian at the Wildlife Investigations Lab for a consult, or sometimes finding a local veterinarian. Once the animal is sedated, we do a quick assessment, take any vitals and make sure the animal is in generally good health. And then I decide where we release the animal, based on habitat assessment.

    There are a lot of things to consider. For example, you don’t want to put that animal in another animal’s territory. We try to keep them as close to their capture location as possible. We want to release them where there’s shelter, food and water so the animal can thrive. Of course we avoid releasing in an area where there’s a lot of human traffic, or near a road because we don’t want them to cross a road and possibly get hit.

    You played a major role in the recent release of a mountain lion following its treatment for serious burns. Can you describe your involvement in that situation?

    We heard there was a mountain lion on someone’s property on the outskirts of Monrovia. We suspected that it might have burned paws, but you never really know until you get there and assess the situation. She was probably 50 to 100 yards down a hillside, and the vegetation was pretty thick. We could see her with binoculars and we could see she was licking her paws. We had an idea something wasn’t right, based on the homeowner’s description of what he came across the night before and obviously, her proximity to the Bobcat Fire as well.

    My first thought was the injuries weren’t great, but they weren’t terrible – we had the possibility of saving this lion and letting her heal. Once she was shot with a tranquilizer dart, it took about five minutes for the drugs to kick in. She actually walked away from the area and toward the state vehicles, which was perfect. She was right where we needed her. We kept her quiet overnight at a local veterinary facility, and the following morning she was transported to the Wildlife Investigations Lab (near Sacramento) for treatment. link opens in new windowWatch Amelia talk about the lion release (Video).

    The lion was released in October, after her injuries healed. We saw in the video that your job was to stand on the top of the transport cage to lift the door. What was going through your mind?

    I wouldn’t say I fear the animals because I work with them often, but I definitely do respect them as predators. I know what their potential is, so I can’t let my guard down when we’re handling them. We had this lion in front of a trail and I was hoping she’d go down the trail and not look back at me and get mad for me standing up there. I had the metal door with me, and also had a team behind me, backing me up, so I felt safe. I also felt excited because I wanted to see her walk away – that was the ultimate goal from the beginning when we captured her.

    How did you determine the right spot for the release? What goes into that decision?

    It takes a couple of days and a lot of thought. The process starts with going over a map. I have good knowledge of the Angeles National Forest, so I was trying to think of areas with suitable habitat. Are there deer there, and do we know where water is? Also, is this an area where there won’t be human presence or highways? My first site ended up having no water, so I needed a Plan B. It’s important that the animals go back into their home range. But with her, the whole area surrounding the capture site had just burned, so we had to go outside that perimeter and honestly just hope for the best.

    Do the job assignments and wildlife scenarios change from one part of the state to another?

    I don't think the job assignments necessarily change, but we do have to consider how our decisions and assignments will impact or be affected by the large amounts of people that utilize the environment in which we work. Additionally, there is a higher frequency of human-wildlife conflict in Southern California because of the large wildland-urban interface. I would also say our wildlife scenarios get a lot of attention from mainstream media and social media. We often encounter crowds of people, media cameras and media helicopters at our wildlife incidents. And with this job, I still get that teaching aspect that I originally wanted. We get to educate the public on wildlife when we do public outreach, at city town halls and other meetings.

    What do you like most about your job?

    The main reason I pursued this is because I get to go into the mountains, go hiking into nature and pretend this is my office. Obviously, I love working the animals and wildlife. It’s not like a connection to a pet, because you see pets as your family. I appreciate and admire these animals and want to maintain these local populations because they’re part of our environment and our habitat. And I love that every day is different. It’s an adventure.

    Do you have a favorite memory?

    The recent mountain lion release was definitely a highlight. We also do aerial surveys every year, when we go in a helicopter and count animals from above, and see the mountains from a birds-eye view. Those days are some of my favorites even though I get motion sickness. I still enjoy being up in the helicopter.

    What would you like to be doing 20 years from now? 

    I would like to still be working with CDFW! I'm only two years into this position, so I'm hoping to feel more like an expert 20 years from now when I have all that experience under my belt.

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    Krysta Rogers is a senior environmental scientist at CDFW’s Wildlife Investigations Laboratory. She is the statewide lead for avian mortality investigations. Her professional experience has been focused almost exclusively on birds, including bird identification, biology, ecology and behavior. She has led and participated in numerous field projects including bird surveys, trapping, banding and sample collection.

    Krysta earned both her Bachelors and Masters of Science degrees in Wildlife from Humboldt State University. She came to CDFW in 2007 as a wildlife biologist, starting out as the avian influenza surveillance coordinator. She subsequently worked on developing the lab’s Avian Investigations program, which includes mortality investigations, disease research and health surveillance for the many different bird species in California.

    Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

    I had an interest in animals from a very young age and pursued this initially in the field of veterinary medicine. Although I enjoyed the animal health aspect, I learned I did not want to become a veterinarian in a small animal practice. I was unaware of other career possibilities until I took an elective course on endangered species at my local community college. The class introduced me to the career of wildlife biologist which subsequently informed my decision to attend Humboldt State University to obtain a degree in Wildlife. Later, while working toward my Master’s degree, my thesis advisor, Dr. Rick Botzler, taught me how to incorporate my interest in animal health into the study of wildlife biology.

    What is a typical day like for you at work?

    woman pathologist examines a dead great horned owl on a laboratory exam table

    As the lead for avian mortality investigations, I spend most of my time responding to reports of dead birds from CDFW staff, other agencies, wildlife rehabilitation centers and the public. Given that most birds are active during the day and are thus highly visible to the public, these reports come in almost constantly. For investigations, I obtain carcasses for post-mortem exam to determine the cause of death, which may inform management actions. I either will perform the gross necropsy myself and submit various tissues for testing, or I will coordinate with another lab for the post-mortem exam and testing. Then I interpret the results and determine the next course of action. These investigations are varied – for instance, house finches and mourning doves dying from diseases at backyard bird feeders, juvenile California scrub jays and Cooper’s hawks dying of West Nile virus, Western and Clark’s grebes dying from starvation along the coast and at inland reservoirs, or bald and golden eagles dying of toxicosis or electrocution.

    What is your favorite species to interact with or study?

    It’s impossible to pick a single species; I’m interested in birds in general. There are more than 600 species of birds in California that live in a diversity of habitats. Different diseases or conditions can affect different species. This great diversity means always having the opportunity to learn something new in terms of species biology, a pathogen or environmental impacts.

    What is it about the work you do that you find most interesting?

    Investigating causes of mortality is almost like being a detective. You need to gather lots of detail and determine what factors are relevant to the cause of death for a particular animal. Sometimes this may be relatively easy with a pathogen or condition you routinely investigate, but sometimes it’s something entirely new. This aspect keeps the investigations interesting.

    What is the most challenging part of your job?

    One challenge is communicating the importance of incorporating animal health into resource management and conservation plans. For many avian species, we don’t have even a basic understanding of the impacts of diseases or contaminants that may influence population growth or decline. The lack of this information may limit our ability to manage species over the long-term, especially in the face of climate change. Climate change will almost certainly favor certain pathogens or host species that can aid in disease transmission.

    What is the most rewarding project that you’ve worked on for CDFW?

    So far, it’s been collaborating with researchers at the University of California, Davis to investigate avian trichomonosis in our native band-tailed pigeons. Avian trichomonosis is a disease caused by a protozoan parasite that in band-tailed pigeons causes near annual large-scale mortality events. This project enabled us to genetically characterize the parasites infecting band-tailed pigeons, including naming a new species of parasite, and evaluate the ecological drivers and the population impacts of these disease events on band-tailed pigeons, a migratory game species.

    If you had free reign and unlimited funding, what scientific project would you most like to do?

    I’d like to work towards an improved understanding of the impacts certain pathogens have on different avian species. This would include genetically characterizing the pathogens, identifying host range, and learning how avian species interact with their environment and the means by which they are exposed to certain pathogens.

    Do you have any advice for people considering careers in science or natural resources?

    Because there are so many career options in the field of science and natural resources, I’d recommend trying to get exposed to a diversity of people and projects as early as possible (e.g. junior high, high school). This can be accomplished through interviewing professionals, volunteering, internships and paid jobs. Learning about the different career options enables you to determine your interests and will help guide your educational path and eventually your career goals.

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