France wildfire volunteers feed abandoned animals

Volunteers are feeding pets and other animals left behind after residents fled a major wildfire in southwest France.

In Lege-Cap-Ferret, west of Bordeaux, volunteers have been driving through the town with pet biscuits, grain and water for cats, dogs, rabbits, chickens and other animals abandoned when people left in haste.

Volunteer Charlotte Darribat said one family asked for help through Facebook after leaving quickly in the night and being unable to take their animals.

The wildfire, described as France's largest since 1949, has consumed 42,000 hectares of woodland on the Atlantic coastline, an area compared in size to the US city of Detroit. More than 180 homes have been ravaged in the area.

Aurelie Zucchello, from a local cat charity, said volunteers had not yet found any dead animals, but feared doing so because of the heat.

Charlene Leroux, from the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for animals, said local charities had done “incredible work” since the fires began last week. She said rescuers had sometimes jumped fences and broken windows to save animals trapped inside homes.

Near Le Porge, closer to where the fire started, firefighters freed Brittany Spaniels and German Shepherds from kennels as flames approached.

Wildlife has also been affected. AFP journalists have seen roe deer and fawns looking disorientated in scorched woodland, and an incinerated roe deer was seen earlier this week on blackened ground.

Volunteers rescued a baby deer from a garden on Wednesday. One volunteer said its hooves were burned, it was given water and taken to a vet, but said they did not know whether it survived.