2M animals die in Bolivia forest firesBy ALAIN LOUISE GERONIMOhome/News/World/2M animals die in Bolivia forest firesLA PAZ: More than 2 million wild animals, including jaguars, pumas and llamas, have perished in weeks of wildfires that devastated huge swaths of Bolivian forest and grassland, environmental experts said Wednesday (Thursday in Manila). The fires devastated the Chiquitania tropical savanna in the east of the country. Latin American ocelots, and other wild cats like pumas and jaguars, as well as deer, llamas — and smaller forest animals like anteaters, badgers, lizards, tapirs and rodents — were victims of the fires, according to biologists investigating the scale of the damage. The fires, which have devastated more than 4 million hectares (10 million acres) since August, has completely destroyed the “primary forest” extending over 100 hectares in the Tucavaca Reserve in the eastern Sta. Environmentalists blame laws enacted under leftist President Evo Morales, who has encouraged burning of forest and pasture land to expand agricultural production.

Source: Manila Times September 26, 2019 16:07 UTC