Four hundred livestock killed in fires in SW Sask
October 20, 2017, 10:58 am
Hundreds of livestock perished in the wildfires that tore through southwest Saskatchewan Tuesday and Wednesday.
The current estimate is that about 400 livestock died or were euthanized due to the fires.
"The loss of these animals is very difficult to cope with," said Grant Zalinko, executive director of the Ministry of Agriculture's livestock branch.
The livestock loss does not include livestock that may have escaped the wildfires and are still at large.
The fires saw the communities of Leader, Burstall and Liebenthal evacuated as people flocked to nearby communities.
The fire at Burstall burned about 30,000 hectares of land while the fire near Tompkins was about 4,000 hectares.
During the firefighting efforts, an Alberta man, James Hargrave, died in single-vehicle rollover.
Two Saskatchewan men from the Tompkins area were also injured, though the extent of their injuries is unknown.
