Brazil animal rescue group gets increase in animals due to fires

With forest degredation advancing fast in Brazil, one jaguar cub that was rescued from the Amazon region without its mother found refuge at the Mata Ciliar Association.

The cub was weak and dehydrated when it arrived at the animal rescue, but can now be seen playing and exercising in the enclosure.

The nonprofit has seen a 350% increase in the number of animals arriving at their site in the month of September alone, largely due to the fires in Brazil.

"This is a consequence of the degradation and destruction of the animals' habitat that ended up running from the fires, for example" said Cristina Adania, coordinator of the Association.

Located in the city of Jundiai, some 70km from Sao Paulo, the Mata Ciliar Association has been receiving injured wild animals from Sao Paulo and other states of Brazil for the past 30 years.

The nonprofit provides the animals with health treatments and rehabilitates them before releasing them into their natural habitat.

The Association's 28 workers are focused on getting the animals back to health, provide them with spaces for them to play, and ensure that while caring for them the animals don't become too accustomed to humans.

For Adania, there is tremendous joy when animals are released, knowing they are ready to survive in the wild.

Jaguars, pumas, Maned wolves, ocelots and macaws are some of the 1,100 animals treated and rehabilitated at the Association.

The number of fires in the state of Sao Paulo more than doubled in 2020, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) .

Satellite images registered 4,214 fires between January 1st and September 13th this year, from 2,015 in the same period in 2019.

Brazil also faces a record number of fires in the Amazon and in Pantanal.