Europe is facing horrific burning from wildfires right now, from France and Spain, to the UK and Greece. Already, Spain has endured upwards of 370 fires, with France having faced more than 320 fires.
These are already record-breaking numbers, and the summer intensity of August has only just begun. In fact, another major heat wave is predicted to arrive next week.
In addition to the deaths, evacuations, and destruction this has caused for humans -
it's also hurting wildlife. Officials with France's ecology and forestry agencies
have stated that wildlife has endured "extremely significant losses" and that, when assessing the number of wildlife deaths,
"it is clear that the figures will be catastrophic."With climate change only set to worsen, we can expect these conditions and future fires to worsen as well. Europe must make a plan for the future - not only for human residents, but also for wildlife. Sign the petition to demand that European Union (EU) leaders plan for the future by creating and implementing a strategy for the management of fires!The fires have been so widespread, so massive, and so intense that it is inevitable that many - if not most - animals caught up in the smoke and flames died. One French official clarified that in many areas afflicted by fires,
"nothing could have survived."Authorities are accumulating a list of species and types of animals likely affected, to try to begin gauging the unimaginable damage.
This list already includes: lizards, toads, insects (and animals that eat insects), pond turtles, marine life, shrews, many birds, and deer. Because the fires kill indiscriminately, this list will also include
endangered and critically vulnerable species, which already could not afford to lose any single member.
And it's not only about the terror and pain these animals would have endured as they died, caught between walls of fire and breathing or drinking in ash and smoke.
It's also about the larger ecosystem consequences. Wildlife exist in a complex and finely balanced web of interconnection. If huge swaths of birds, insects, and amphibians die out in France and Spain, then what happens to the rest of the food chain?
Any surviving animals will also have to adapt either to life in the now-barren wastelands that were torched to soot, or find new homes and new habitats - that may or may not be well-suited to them.
New research shows just how closely these devastating and historic fires
are linked with climate change and humans' continued reliance on fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal. In fact, recent studies suggest that the climate crisis made drought, heat, and wind - which create the conditions for fires - 2,000% more likely in Spain and 200% more likely in France.
We are causing this mess. We also need to make a plan for how to help wildlife survive as we wreck the planet. Residents of the European Union are neighbors with the wildlife living in the same region. The EU must plan for the future by creating a plan to manage wildfires and protect animals! Sign the petition! 