Despite the suggestions flooding Facebook and Twitter, leaving buckets of water for displaced wildlife during a forest fire is not a good idea, according to state and local wildlife agencies.

Hundreds of postings and retweets jammed social media this week, urging Southern California homeowners living in the path of the region’s devastating wildfires to “put out buckets of water” for thirsty critters escaping the blazes.

Please, if you live anywhere near the fires: please put our water buckets for wild life. They're terrified and thirsty. Also please don't approach wildlife, and keep your companion animals inside. The animals need your help, desperately. pic.twitter.com/4dlZLvNlab — moby XⓋX (@thelittleidiot) December 8, 2017

While well-intentioned, following the advice in the social media meme may do more harm than good, said Peter Tira, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“In a wildfire, you should let the animals take care of themselves. It is detrimental to put food and water out for them because then they become dependent on people,” said Tira. “And that never ends well for the animals.”

Mobile animals, such as birds, deer, bobcats, mountain lions and coyotes scatter at the first sign of flames. They instinctively know how to survive and where to find a water source, he said. Snakes, wood rats and other burrowing animals will dig a hole and allow the fire to sweep over them, he said.

Putting out water is the same as leaving food. It will habituate the wild animal to return to your home. “You are not doing them a favor by attracting them to dwellings that catch fire,” Tira said.

And after the fires are out and life returns to normal, visiting mountain lions may not welcomed by your pet dog or cat, he said.

The familiar meme started in the Pacific Northwest during wildfires there in September and were repeated by a group in the Midwest known as Montana Fire Support during a spate of some of the worst wildfires in Montana history.

During the past several days, the meme was re-tweeted by L.A.-area celebrities and animal rights activists, including the musician/activist Moby, soap opera star Deidre Hall and bassist Jimmy V from the hip-hop band Indy.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcY9k2VA6g2/?taken-by=emmyrossum

Some tweets say the practice is sanctioned by the “forestry department” or some other official sounding agency, a claim labeled false by Snopes.com, a website that fact-checks social media messages.

Nathan Sill, U.S. Forest Service biologist working in the Angeles National Forest, including the 12,000 acres scorched by the Creek fire, said he hadn’t seen the messages but agrees with other biologists.

“I think it will probably do nothing, to be honest,” Sill said. “If animals are fleeing a fire, their first priority is to escape, not jump into a bucket of water.”

Kate Kuykendall, spokesperson for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said if people want to help wild animals, they can support nonprofit rescue organizations, such as the California Wildlife Center, which rehabilitates injured animals from fires or from car accidents.