More than 2 million animals have been killed by wildfires in Bolivia in recent months, including jaguars, pumas, and ocelots, AFP reported. The fires have burned more than 10 million acres of forest and grassland since August, devastating ecosystems including the Chiquitania tropical savanna and an old-growth forest reserve in the state of Santa Cruz.
“We have consulted the biologists of Chiquitania and we have exceeded the estimate of more than 2.3 million missing animals in many protected areas,” biologist Sandra Quiroga of Santa Cruz University told AFP.
While many animals were likely able to flee the flames, scientists reported finding the charred remains of ocelots, pumas, deer, llamas, anteaters, badgers, lizards, and tapirs. Panthera, a big cat conservation group, estimated that at least 500 adult jaguars have been killed or left homeless by the fires in Brazil and Bolivia, with nearly 5 million acres of critical big cat habitat lost in the Santa Cruz area alone.
Read more at Yale Environment 360
Image: A giant armadillo rescued from fires in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. DIRCOM GOB VIA PANTHERA