Wildfires in Western Canada--Animal survival

[Catherine]

There have been terrible wildfires burning all over western Canada. Some communities have been evacuated. It has been hard on the animals, wild and domesticated.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/...-1.3144269

It seems terrible that people had to leave their pets behind. It would have saved a lot of trouble to evacuate the pets with their owners.
Of course many of the dogs and cats are probably strays. They needed rescue anyhow.
http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

http://www.paherald.sk.ca/News/Local/201...old-digs/1

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchew...-1.3136658

There have been some happy stories.
http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

When ever there is a disaster pets and wild animals are so vulnerable. They don't know where to go or how to escape. I am glad to hear work is being done to help them.

[Tobi]

I can't get the page to load....will try again later for the full story.
I cannot understand (without reading the article) why people HAD to leave their pets behind?? I would have had no-one telling me what to do, but would have got mine into the car before I even got in it!

[Catherine]

It makes no sense to me that they left pets behind. Of course many of them are free roaming and perhaps could not be found. These are very remote areas and people were evacuated in a hurry.

There are many fires burning in western Canada so there are animals in danger all over. Some will have made it to safety and some will have perished.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/photo-shows...-1.2464699

The bear is near the lake so I am sure he was able to make it to the water. These fires are a terrible thing. The birds mostly could fly to safety, but babies might not have survived. Smaller animals would have it rough. If they could climb above the tree line they might be alright. I think burrowing animals would have a chance. There will have been a terrible loss of life. most of which we will never know about. Little mice and other tiny forest dwellers would have no way to get to safety.

[Tobi]

Wildfires are so devastating. I makes me wonder how they start. Even a cigarette, not put out properly, or a camp fire that hadn't been put out properly could start it. I know fires can start naturally given the right conditions, but very often they are caused by a human mistake.
The wildlife must be suffering a lot. Some would be able to get away and some not. I am so sorry about this.

[Catherine]

Most of the fires were caused by lightning strikes. The weather conditions have been hot and dry and you get a kind of heat lightning. There is a real build up of electricity. Or when there was a thunder storm, the lightning caused the fire and there was not enough rain to put it out.

A few of the fires have had human causes. Cigarettes are the worst. Campfires can cause fires, but there has been a campfire restriction for some time.
Some of these fires can smoulder under the surface for a long time.
One fire in Alberta(when I was there) smouldered underground in the winter and flared up in the spring. Some fires just burn along the surface and the trees will survive. More intense fires take out the trees, but by next spring the area will be green and new trees will start growing.
A really bad fire burns below the surface as well and leaves the area barren for awhile.
Loss of animal life depends on the type of fire and how fast it moves.
There is no doubt that this is one of the worst years ever for the sheer numbers of fires. There is no way we will ever know how many little animals will have died. It is a tragic loss of life. I have hiked trough some of these areas and it breaks my heart to think of what has happened to them.
Nature will regenerate, but the loss is terrible.