Rhodes: Several of the island’s deer have fallen victim to the fire

Several of the deer that live on the island of Rhodes and were in the forest area where the fire started and continues have lost their lives, according to the estimates of the firefighters and volunteers who are at the front of the fire.

“We have losses but we still don’t have a complete picture of the extent of the destruction because we cannot go to the areas since the fire is raging”, the president of the Regional Council and appointed adviser for the primary sector, Philimonas Zannetidis, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, pointing out that the picture that exists so far is not good at all.

According to estimates, several deer (species Dama-dama), as well as several goats and sheep, have fallen victim to the fire that has been raging for the seventh day. The specific area where the fire started, the Apollon-Laermon forest, is one of the main habitats of Rhodes’ deer.

“We hope that many of the deer that were in this forest area have managed to escape by escaping to other nearby forest areas. More generally, however, the damage suffered by the island’s ecosystem from the ongoing fire is very great, but the scale of the destruction will become clear in the coming days”, added Mr. Zannetidis.