Guariba, district of the municipality of Colniza, interior of Mato Grosso, 40 kilometers from the border with the state of Amazonas. In the region taken by in the forest, José Cândido Primo, 60, observed an anguished group of five tamarins. They were almost surrounded by the flames of a fire in a deforested area.

“I counted by far five little monkeys, a species that is only found in this region,” said Primo, resident of Colniza since 1985, who even January of this year held the position of manager of the Guariba-Roosevelt Conservation Unit.
He approached the tree where they were, waved his arms, made a noise to frighten them away. “I tried to save them, but they stayed up high. O fire came and I had to leave ”. The tamarins ended up charred.

850 kilometers away, in the city of Lucas do Rio Verde, still in the territory of the state of Mato Grosso, a team of the Corps de Firefighters found along the way a paca also killed by the fire of a burn.

Next to a log that has already been turned to embers, the paca was photographed by one of the military last Tuesday, August 20. It was not a case isolated. There, firefighters encounter dead animals daily as they try to contain the fires in the area of Lucas do Rio Verde.

According to a report produced by the environmental organization WWF Brasil and released exclusively to ÉPOCA, there are currently 265 endangered species in the fire-stricken parts of the Amazon: 180 fauna and 85 flora.

Of the total mentioned, 76% of the species are protected in conservation areas or supported by public protection policies National Action Plans for the Conservation of Endangered Species or Speleological Heritage (PAN).

Fire hits conservation units

The demarcated safety zone for some animals, however, disappears at the threat of burning. WWF survey points some reserves already reached, such as: Xingu Triunfo Environmental Protection Area in Pará (PA), Jaci Paraná Extractive Reserve (RO), Ecological Terra do Meio (PA), Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve (AC) and Amanã National Forest (AM / PA).

According to the project manager of WWF Brazil, Gabriela Viana, the numbers result from a crossing of the areas most affected by the burnings, the from recent data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), with information on the fauna of the region from the WWF database and also from the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio).

“Part of the financial resources taken from the Amazon was precisely related to fire fighting and prevention. You must redeem this investment, not only to prevent the current fire from spreading further, but mainly to recover lost areas,” analyzed Gabriela.

Among the species within the protected areas, eight are considered more vulnerable to burning as Ararajuba, Gavião real, Tapir and Amazon Manatee.

Outside the protected areas, some species are worse off, without any form of defense, such as the vested cuicca which is already considered critically endangered.

Used to walking in the reserve of his region, with almost 165 thousand hectares in the stretch between the municipalities of Aripuanã and Colniza, José Cândido Primo He said he currently finds a scenario he has never seen before.

“Last week I walked through a cleared area of ​​approximately 200 hectares of land to see what was going on. On the edge of a stream found three dead pacas, burned snake skulls, and a still-burning sloth that died after debating over there. All of this in a deforestation considered small for the proportions of what is happening this year, ”said Primo, who currently works with the extraction of Brazil nuts and copaíba oil, two typical species of the region.

He reports that the fire in the forest region is not accidental, but directed at deforestation: “In our region, the economy is driven by wood and livestock soon follow. So we were very harmed, unable to pass this on to the responsible entities because here the loudest speaker is the logger, it is the extraction of wood. After they cut down and burn the woods next to the chestnut trees, 99% of the planting dies and those that remain will not produce more”, he lamented.

Incêndios na Amazônia espalham animais carbonizados em áreas destruidas

© GABRIELA BILO / ESTADAO

The Tharin indigenous live an area of the Amazon where illegal deforestation and land grabbing surface to the naked eye, a green belt where the
fire “springs from nowhere” in the middle of the virgin forest. With the strong winds, the flames move uncontrollably – without us being able
detect the perpetrators of the fire. “We take care of this land, our territory. To this day, the fire had not entered. But now it came at once, in several places. It’s a dread for our people, because it makes our children sick, kills the animals, only brings bad things,” says Tenharin, sitting on a mound of earth in the middle of the black ground.

Índios do sul do Amazonas achavam que estavam livres dos incêndios acabaram dentro da catástrofe