Argentinian firefighters on Sunday were trying to fight the devastating wildfires in the rural Corrientes region, which has already burnt through more than 800,000 hectares of land, almost 10% of the regions’ total area.
“The truth is that Corrientes province is going through a catastrophe with the fires. A lot of animals have been lost,” Luis Candia, a local helping to fight the fires in the northern Argentine province, said.
Wildfires burned down farmlands and wetlands, killing cows, horses, monkeys, deer, alligators and birds. The fires reached the Ibera National Park, one of the world’s largest freshwater wetlands. Images from the park showed animals dead or fleeing the fire.
Andrea Boloqui, president of the Corrientes Chamber of Tourism said that the wetland has become so dry that animals don’t have water: “We leave water for the monkeys in the trees and for the alligators.”
President of the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers, Enrique Viale, said the huge losses from the wildfire were an example of how climate change and human activity were destroying the environment.
Viale said that the cause of the wildfires were a combination of global climate change, a long-lasting drought and land clearing for rice fields and animal farming.
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