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Fears for endangered hyacinth macaw as fire devastates Brazilian wetland
Source: The Guardian
Fears for endangered macaw as fire devastates Brazilian wetland
The Pantanal wetland – home to the hyacinth macaw – is suffering its worst blazes in decades, most probably started by humans
Fabiano Maisonnave in Fazenda São Francisco do Perigara and Tom Phillips
Published on Wed 19 Aug 2020 10.15 BST
The world’s biggest refuge for endangered hyacinth macaws has been devastated by a historic fire in the Brazilian Pantanal.
The Pantanal, a vast tropical wetland straddling Brazil’s border with Bolivia and Paraguay, is currently suffering its worst fires in more than two decades, with nearly 12% of its vegetation reportedly already lost.
Last month Brazil’s space agency, Inpe, detected 1,684 fires in the region – the highest number in July since it began monitoring in 1998 and up from less than 500 in the same month last year. In the first half of August more than 3,000 fires have broken out.
The devastated areas include the Fazenda São Francisco do Perigara, a ranch in Mato Grosso state that has become a key sanctuary for the spectacular blue bird in recent years. Of the 6,500 hyacinth macaws living in the wild around the world, about 700 use its trees for nighttime shelter.
Ana Maria Barretto, one of the ranch’s owners, said that based on satellite images she believed at least 70% of the nearly 250 sq km property had been destroyed by the blaze, probably caused by humans and exacerbated by an unusually dry rainy season.
-snip-
The Pantanal wetland – home to the hyacinth macaw – is suffering its worst blazes in decades, most probably started by humans
Fabiano Maisonnave in Fazenda São Francisco do Perigara and Tom Phillips
Published on Wed 19 Aug 2020 10.15 BST
The world’s biggest refuge for endangered hyacinth macaws has been devastated by a historic fire in the Brazilian Pantanal.
The Pantanal, a vast tropical wetland straddling Brazil’s border with Bolivia and Paraguay, is currently suffering its worst fires in more than two decades, with nearly 12% of its vegetation reportedly already lost.
Last month Brazil’s space agency, Inpe, detected 1,684 fires in the region – the highest number in July since it began monitoring in 1998 and up from less than 500 in the same month last year. In the first half of August more than 3,000 fires have broken out.
The devastated areas include the Fazenda São Francisco do Perigara, a ranch in Mato Grosso state that has become a key sanctuary for the spectacular blue bird in recent years. Of the 6,500 hyacinth macaws living in the wild around the world, about 700 use its trees for nighttime shelter.
Ana Maria Barretto, one of the ranch’s owners, said that based on satellite images she believed at least 70% of the nearly 250 sq km property had been destroyed by the blaze, probably caused by humans and exacerbated by an unusually dry rainy season.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/19/hyacinth-macaw-brazil-fire-pantanal-endangered-birds
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