\u2018Roasted alive\u2019
\nGreece suffers several major forest fires this summer amid high temperatures, especially around Athens and in western Peloponnese
\nnews agency
\nAthens
\nA badly burned tortoise that survived a Greek wildfire wriggles in an Athens animal clinic despite lots of painkillers, one of the latest victims of climate change that is playing havoc with the country\u2019s wildlife.
\nMost of the scorched scales on its back had to be removed with forceps.
\n\u201cIt was really depressed and had its mouth open trying to breathe because of the smoke\u201d when volunteers brought it in, said vet Grigorios Markakis.
\nEven though \u201cit\u2019s much better\u201d now, the prognosis is not good, he told AFP. \u201cIf the whole shell is burned, imagine what happened inside… All the internal organs will be dysfunctional.\u201d
\nMarkakis, 28, cares for orphaned, injured or sick creatures, from hedgehogs to snakes to storks, from a first aid station of the Greek wildlife protection group Anima.
\nThe NGO has seen a surge in animal admissions \u2014 largely because of climate change, which scientists say is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves worldwide, fuelling wildfires and generating other dangers for wildlife.
\nGreece suffered several major forest fires this summer amid high temperatures, especially around Athens and in the western Peloponnese.
\nThe government said around 45,000 hectares (111,200 acres) have burned this year.
\n\u201cThese fires are now harder to suppress and often wipe out vast areas of critical habitat, killing animals directly and displacing many more,\u201d said Nikos Georgiadis, from the World Wildlife Fund Greece.
\n\u201cProlonged droughts, rising temperatures, and forest dieback all degrade habitats, reduce food and water availability, and make survival more difficult for many species,\u201d he told AFP.
\nThirsty vultures
\nAnima staffer Anna Manta said \u201cmore and more animals\u201d are being brought to them because of the prolonged heat.
\n\u201cMost get exhausted or they are forced to leave the nests really, really early,\u201d she told AFP. Birds \u201cjust jump off the nests… because they get roasted alive\u201d, she told AFP.
\nIn July, when Greece suffered a searing heatwave with temperatures above 40C, Anima admitted 1,586 animals. In June it was 2,125 \u2014 nearly 300 more than during the same period last year.
\n\u201cLast year we thought that it was the worst year we had ever seen… And then we had June,\u201d Manta said.
\nThe centre has received many young emaciated and exhausted vultures.
\n\u201cDown in Crete, they can\u2019t find water. Most of them go to the sea to drink water. They get poisoned because their body cannot process salt,\u201d said Manta.
\nThe team treats them with medicine and fluids for a few days, before taking them to outdoor cages to socialise. They are released back into the wild after six months.
\nOne such juvenile griffon vulture had just received IV fluids into a vein. Afterwards an employee carried it out \u2014 with a pained look on her face because lice from the weak bird were crawling onto her.
\n\u201cClimate change affects also the microorganisms, the parasites, the diseases, by affecting their transmission,\u201d said Markakis.
\n\u201cThe transmission is probably easier because these microorganisms can live for longer periods,\u201d he said.
\n\u2018It was magic\u2019
\nPerched on a computer monitor was a long-eared owl. When Anima president Maria Ganoti began typing, the bird turned and looked down at the keyboard with its big orange eyes.
\nLater, it turned again to stare when people brought in a shoebox with a quail attacked by cats, followed by a fox hit by a car \u2014 an increasing phenomenon.
\nGeorgiadis said the root cause of such incidents was habitat degradation and \u201cthe expansion of urban areas close to or into forests, (which) pushes foxes and other animals to venture into cities\u201d.
\nBefore Markakis took the injured fox to the operating table, he told how one of his \u201cbest life moments\u201d was treating and releasing a cub that had severe head injuries back into the wild.
\n\u201cI just gave it a last look, I opened the door (of its cage) and it immediately disappeared \u2014 without even a thank you!\u201d he laughed. \u201cBut it was magic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018Roasted alive\u2019 Greece suffers several major forest fires this summer amid high temperatures, especially around Athens and in western Peloponnese news agency Athens A badly burned tortoise that survived a Greek wildfire wriggles in an Athens animal clinic despite lots of painkillers, one of the latest victims of climate change that is playing havoc with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-500895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n