Colombia’s Wildfires Are Leaving Wildlife Injured and Displaced

Colombia’s 2026 wildfire season has burned more than 31,000 hectares of vegetation in Tolima and about 22,000 hectares inside areas administered by National Parks. Across several regions, environmental authorities are treating burned anteaters, iguanas, small mammals, birds and other animals—but the rescues only partly show the scale of the damage, because fires also destroy nests, refuges and food sources.

Rescued animals: A partial count

In Tolima, the regional authority Cortolima had treated 37 wild animals by Aug. 26: nine died, six were released, and 22 remained in its wildlife care center. In Cundinamarca, 14 animals were treated after August fires; 11 died, two were transferred to the National University’s wildlife unit, and one remained under specialized care at the CAR’s center in Tocaima.

Those figures do not measure the full toll. They count animals found and brought to rescuers. National Parks notes that smaller, less mobile animals—snakes, turtles, amphibians—are especially vulnerable, and many die without ever being found.

Cases that show the scale

Some of the cases recorded this year show how quickly a wildfire can turn into a wildlife rescue operation. In Coyaima, Tolima, a resident rescued an anteater with serious burns after a fire reached the Buena Vista Meche area in August. Local officials transported the animal to Cortolima for medical care.

In Neiva, Huila, firefighters found two yaguarundi cubs, about a month old, inside a burrow during a forest fire. Both were dehydrated; the female had burns on her paw pads and singed whiskers. CAM took them to its wildlife facility for artificial rearing and weight monitoring.

The case of a puma cub in Arauca was even more direct. Park rangers rescued the cub from flames in the Cinaruco National Integrated Management District on March 25, delivering the animal to Corporinoquia for rehabilitation and eventual release.

Cortolima’s treatment logs included an ocelot, woolly opossum, paca, iguana, blue-gray tanager, anteater, and nine-banded armadillo. These rescues stemmed from blazes that scorched 31,046 hectares across Tolima by late August.

Damage that continues after the flames

Immediate injuries are only one part of the problem. In August, Cundinamarca recorded 400 forest fires affecting 1,512 hectares of vegetation. Regional authorities warned that blazes cause severe burns, dehydration, smoke inhalation, and acute habitat loss. Officials estimate damaged ecosystems will require at least two years to regenerate.

National Parks reported a similar pattern in protected areas. By Sept. 9, 15 wildfires had affected about 22,000 hectares inside areas under its administration in 2026, with one fire still active in the Vía Parque Isla de Salamanca. The agency said fires can destroy nests, eggs, young animals, refuges and food sources even when adults escape.

That is why rescue counts are only a partial measure. A wildlife center can document an injured animal; it cannot easily count every destroyed nest or every individual that died unseen.

Why so many agencies appear in the story

Colombia’s decentralized environmental system, created by the 1993 environmental law, includes 33 regional environmental corporations: 26 Corporaciones Autónomas Regionales (Autonomous Regional Corporations) and seven Corporaciones para el Desarrollo Sostenible (Sustainable Development Corporations). Their jurisdictions follow geographic, biogeographic, and hydrographic criteria, not just departmental borders.

This decentralized structure assigns wildlife rescues to regional authorities based on territory. Cortolima handles Tolima, CAM operates in Huila, CAR manages Cundinamarca, Corporinoquia covers the Orinoquía region, and National Parks oversees protected reserves. These corporations work with firefighters, police, municipalities, universities, and communities; in Cundinamarca, a joint team with the National University provided veterinary assessment and rehabilitation capacity.

From rescue to long-term conservation

Removing an animal from a fire is only the beginning. Authorities must determine whether it can recover physically, feed itself, move normally, and eventually survive without human assistance.

CAM’s 2026 figures show the scale of that system beyond fire emergencies: in the first half of the year, it treated 1,079 wild animals (394 birds, 372 mammals, 313 reptiles); by July, 600 had completed rehabilitation and returned to their natural habitat. These releases are part of ongoing rehabilitation and conservation work by regional authorities, not a single national “repopulation” program.

For animals affected by fires, the harder question is whether suitable habitat remains. National Parks has begun strengthening emergency response with medical supplies and equipment for wildlife rescue and transport and is developing a specialized protocol for handling wildlife emergencies inside protected areas.

The immediate priority is preventing animals from being caught in active fires and getting injured wildlife to trained rescuers. The broader challenge lies in safeguarding enough habitat for rehabilitated wildlife to return to viable ecosystems.