Mike Russell regularly checks the weather before work. He’s the co-owner of J&M Dog Walking, so weather plays an important role in deciding how much time his clients spend outdoors.
When Russell saw the advisory for poor air quality Thursday morning, he “didn’t know what to expect,” he said. Still, he told walkers to take dogs out quickly and to spend more time inside with them instead.
But Russell, 43, quickly realized the pollution was going to be a larger issue. Many of his North Side clients canceled their scheduled dog walks because they didn’t want their pets to breathe the polluted air — or because they weren’t going into work themselves, Russell said. That night he worried about comparisons in the news between breathing the outside air and smoking multiple cigarettes.
“Like, a dog has never smoked a cigarette,” he said.
This week’s hazardous air quality didn’t affect just humans, experts say. Fine particles known as PM2.5, which were emitted by wildfires from Minnesota and Canada, were the main drivers of this week’s elevated air quality and had animal caretakers scrambling to pay special attention to their charges who have wings or tails.
PM2.5 can be harmful and sometimes be deadly. Initially, fine particulate matter may cause a burning sensation in the eyes and nose. But because of its small size, it can settle deep in the lungs and cross into the bloodstream.
Dave Bernier, the general curator of Lincoln Park Zoo, said zoo employees are keeping an eye out for labored breathing, changes in activity levels or less movement from animals to see if they’re uncomfortable in an environment.
“It would be probably pretty similar to what is recommended for people,” he said.
During Thursday’s bout of poor air quality, no zoo animals lost access to outdoor spaces, Bernier said.
“We felt that it would be actually more stressful on some of the animals that we thought potentially could be at risk for the air quality, to be kept inside, solely inside,” he said.
The main change Thursday was the animals’ eating habits. Bernier said zoo staffers normally “make eating harder” for the animals, to mimic foraging conditions in the wilderness. This can involve scattering food around a habitat.
Trying to keep strenuous activity to a minimum, feeding was simpler Thursday. The zoo’s staff also scattered more food indoors for certain animals like great apes to limit time outside.
Bernier said zoo employees pay close attention to their animals, and the same should be done for pets at home, even if owners are already attentive.
“It might be subtle, so you may have to watch them a little closer, make sure their overall breathing or their panting isn’t more excessive than it normally is, or their activity levels are the same,” he said.
The presence of major pollutant PM2.5 quadrupled the previous record set for air quality in Cook County on Thursday, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. AirNow listed levels Thursday and Friday as representing “emergency conditions where everyone is more likely to be affected.”
While conditions improved on Friday, the National Weather Service issued an air quality alert through Saturday night.
The lingering air pollution has proved to be a challenge for some caretakers to care for their stock.
Back of the Yards beekeeper Jana Kinsman, 40, said the pollution affects her ability to bring product to market. She hasn’t been able to work with bees outside because of the smoke and heat, she said.
“I can’t go out and manage my hives,” Kinsman said. “They are managed colonies, and they need care from humans for them to do best. But it’s like unhealthy for me to work outside. And it’s unhealthy for me to do like heavy lifting, manual labor stuff, outside in this weather.”
Kinsman also said she’s worried about the stress bees might be facing due to the smoke and particulate matter in the environment.
“I just wonder how efficiently they’re operating with such a major environmental pressure like that,” she said.
Jessica Helgen, University of Minnesota Bee Squad program director, said bees can survive smoky conditions, but there’s less information about long-term health impacts from air pollution. She also said that when talking about bee health, it’s important to differentiate between honeybees, a “managed livestock animal,” and native bees.
“If one area is not doing well for honeybees, the beekeepers could pick up the colonies and move them,” Helgen said. “Native bees don’t have that protection.”
Even with all the wildfire smoke in Minnesota, Helgen said, bees were still out foraging.
