The disastrous effects of the war on fauna
Juti Álvarez Ruiz
Ukrainian horse in a field.(image from Dreamstime)
The fauna of Ukraine is divided between European and Asiatic species. There are approximately 28,000 animal species that can be found in Ukraine, of which 330 are birds, 200 are fish, 21 are reptiles and 19 are amphibians.
Ukraine has 33 Ramsar sites (Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, also known as “The Convention on Wetlands”, an intergovernmental environmental treaty established in 1971 by UNESCO), 3 national parks and some nature reserves of the biosphere.
Approximately 85% of the Ukrainian fauna is in danger of extinction, some of them are the European bison, the Eurasian moose or the Eurasian lynx.
Ukraine is currently in a war against Russia, and this war is affecting the diverse Ukrainian fauna in various ways.
These are the most common ways in which the war is affecting Ukrainian fauna :
The deforestation and destruction of habitats and biomes that are currently taking place in Ukraine.
Bombs are also a threat because they not only kill humans, but also the diverse and rare Ukrainian fauna.
Noise is also a threat to wildlife, as it can scare most birds and mammals, and sometimes in very extreme cases can cause the occasional death from fright.
The dust and pollution produced by a war can be extremely dangerous and can cause the most damage to fauna. Dust is a small substance that, like smoke, if it penetrates the lungs of any animal or human, causes agony, pain, suffocation and a painful and slow death to those who have breathed the air stained by smoke and dust. Pollution, in this case we are talking about, is smoke.
Dead Ukrainian horse in a road.(image from laopinion.com)
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