Chilean vets treat animals injured in wildfires

STORY: It is a joint effort between Concepcion University's veterinary faculty and the Nuble Wildlife Rehab Centre.

Veterinarians are receiving animals from the Aracania, BioBio, and Nuble regions, the center's manager Valentina Aravena Ramirez told Reuters on Wednesday (February 8).

"We try to stabilize them and treat them to ease the pain caused by the burns they have when they arrive," she said.

The area affected by the wildfire has now spread to cover 726,633 acres (294,058 hectares), Chilean authorities said, an area four times the size of Singapore.

Some 2,180 people have been injured, and 1,180 houses have been destroyed, authorities said, with most of the deaths and damages taking place across the south-central Biobio, Araucania, and Nuble regions.