Olivia Sanderfoot in WIRED: Wildfire Smoke Is Terrible for You. But What Does It Do to Cows?

Bad air can mislead birds, causing them to fly into the flames instead of to safety. “Carbon monoxide poisoning, if it doesn’t result in fatality, can also cause confusion. It can cause disorientation,” says Olivia V. Sanderfoot, an ecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles who studies the effect of wildfire smoke on animals. “So there’s also this concern that maybe even if they have the capacity to escape a fire, maybe they don’t because they can’t quite figure out how to get away, because they are not feeling well.”