The drought that has hit sections of Kansas
this year has also affected wildlife that needs rivers, streams and
rain to survive.
Don Distler is a biologist who manages Wichita State
University’s biology field station along the Ninnescah River in
south-central Kansas. He says that because of
the drought, creatures living near the Ninnescah River have moved,
died or gone into a type of hibernation in the soil, reducing some
populations of birds, insects and mammals by anywhere from 50 to 80
percent.