Fears are being expressed of a high number of wildlife deaths following a significant forest fire in Clare.
It comes as a popular walking trail in the South-East of the county was forced to close for a number of days after becoming englulfed in a vicous blaze.
The Twelve O’Clock Hills will reopen to the public today, however with the notable absence of over 20 Acres of native woodland.
It comes as a sizeable proportion of the popular walking trail was destroyed after becoming engulfed in flames on Thursday evening.
First responders from Limerick & Shannon fire service immediately attended the incident before the scene was handed over to Coilte the next morning.
The State’s dedicated forestry service deployed a helicopter equipped with a bambi bucket which consistently deposited dumps of 1,500 litres of water over the burning woodland.
Although a status orange warning had been in place for forest and gorse fires, an initial inspection from fire services identified the presence of copper wiring and insulation at the ignition point.
The Communications Manager for Coilte claims while all forest fires present critical dangers to emergency services , the public and wildlife, they are easily avoidable.
Pat Neville says regardless of periods of high humidity almost all nature fires are a result of human error and malpractice.
Meanwhile a Clare Veterinary Nurse says the wide range of local biodiversity and wildlife inhabiting the woodlands are most at risk.
Bev Truss who is a registered rehabilitator with the Hogsprickle society says animals do not expect unnatural events to occur and instinctively go to ground and curl up in a ball for protection.
She says as a result, beautiful native species to Ireland can meet a devastating and unnecessary death.
You can listen to the full report below.
