Yesterday we showed you a picture of a Kinkajou rescued by the Belize Wildlife Referral Clinic. He'd suffered burns to his paws, nose, and ear, at the time we told you that smoke inhalation and pneumonia had made his case a questionable one. Tonight there's an update on his condition.
Cherisse Halsall spoke to Dr. Isabelle Paquet-Durant, the founder and director of the Wildlife Referral clinic. She says that while for us burnt forests may mean less green space for weekend jaunts, for many animals, it means the loss of their homes and possibly their families.
Dr. Isabelle Pauquet-Durant, Founder and Director, BWRC
"The Clinic's experience has been a challenge so to speak because A we do see victims of wildfires pretty much every year so some animals are displaced or orphaned with burn wounds on them and in this case, we also had a wildfire behind the clinic that came closer and closer and closer for 5 days. So a challenge from both ends."
This video taken by Belize Wildlife Referral Clinic shows a displaced animal with obvious signs of burns on its feet. It's frantically running because the soil beneath its feet is on fire.
Although staff made heroic efforts to capture the animal. It evaded them.
The video's caption quote: a stark reminder that while some animals die quick and fiery deaths, many suffer for a long time eventually dying of inhalation pneumonia, varying degrees of burns, and once their food supplies have burnt up, starvation."
Dr. Isabelle Pauquet-Durant
"The worst thing to me is thinking of all the burnt homes, no, while to us it's a forest to maybe enjoy or make use of to thousands and thousands of animals it's home and it's burnt to the ground."
Cherisse Halsall:
"Who's been most affected is it animals that fly, the ones on the ground, or the ones in the trees?"
Dr. Isabelle Pauquet-Durant
"I think all of them are through the air because we all breathe the air. It doesn't matter where we live, from us humans here suffering to every animal that flies. Some birds may have a chance to get away because they fly but they often leave behind their nests and their offspring. Animals that can walk in many cases that I've seen now the fires move very slow so some maybe be able to walk away but again their offspring doesn't stand a chance and many of them get burnt in the process because everywhere around them is burning and then the air is just a killer to the lungs."
The Kinkajou today tentatively dubbed Fuego by his rescuer and clinic staff was certainly luckier.
Dr. Isabelle Pauquet-Durant
"For now, we just have one burn victim and that's that kinkajou that arrived yesterday."
Cherisse Halsall:
"So how is Kinkajou doing? What's his prognosis?"
Dr. Isabelle Pauquet-Durant
"The Prognosis has improved a little bit overnight. He is definitely in good spirits as we like to say. He's very feisty and very wild and currently is fighting to take his medications. So that's a good sign, it makes it more difficult for us, but that is good. What has me most concerned is the state of his lungs because he inhaled so much smoke. So percentage-wise of his body I estimate that it's under 5% of his body that's burnt so he stands a chance to survive that but the lungs will take a few more days to be sure whether he'll get over that."
"These fires, unfortunately, are man-made and their man-made despite a ban, and yes a lot of fires were burning already before that and they were out of control before the ban was put in place."
"We have until the last few days not had any lightning storms in the area so while some people are out there saying oh yeah there are natural forest fires no, these fires are not natural and the rainforest is actually not supposed to burn while certain types of forest have evolved to burn rainforests have not evolved to burn."
"The ray of hope is people stepping up groups forming, volunteers all over the country stepping up trying to do what they can to stop this so that's for sure a ray of hope and in dire situations, it seems to bring people together more but I hope that long term lessons will be taken from this."
"It hasn't been easy because of the state of emergency and movement restrictions. So I'm sure there are thousands of animals that are burnt or in need of help many people may also not be aware that we're actually there and ready to help if more can find their way to us."
The wildlife clinic provides free veterinary care for in peril wildlife. If you see a hurt animal give them a call at 615-5159. They will, under the current restrictions, either offer advice or attempt to get animals to rescue with the ultimate goal of releasing them into the wild.
Email
Print