Different NGOs have estimated how many animals may have died in the fires that devastated Spain. It is estimated that 70,000 animals died in the Vall d’Ebo fire in Alicante alone, and the death toll in Galicia would be around five hundred thousand. All this without counting how many people died, including wolves, in the Sierra de la Culebra in Zamora.
The data were obtained based on a formula developed by scientists from different universities to estimate the actual number of animals killed in any fire in a natural area.
To do this, we start from the approximate number of animals that can live per region per calcined hectare. Only among mammals, birds and rodents it will be around 10/15 individuals. The rest is simple, multiplied by hectares burned, and the resulting figure is as pathetic as it is dramatic. A million animals would be burned alive in Spain this summer.
However, as if that weren’t enough, the Franz Weber Foundation rightly reminded that the above calculations refer only to freely living animals. It does not include those living on livestock farms or those living in cottages and chalets as pets. A real disaster.
I don’t know if you’ve seen some of the viral videos these days recorded by some priests with your cell phones. Inside, they are seen fleeing the flames with their goats and sheep in search of a safe place for themselves.
These animals were lucky, while others, on the contrary, died locked in their own barns with no chance of rescuing themselves. His images, burned with the animals inside all the farms, are damaging to the heart and soul.
Our longtime managers are committed to executing contingency plans for the rescue of animals that never came. I think they will take the opportunity of what happened tomorrow or the next day and promise again as if nothing happened. But they are wrong, it happens. There are a million animals alive but they died today.