Fishing guide Amilton Brandao said the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state should be flooded at this time of year. Instead, they're being ravaged by fires, part of a startling and dramatic increase from the previous year. - REUTERS
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00:00Fishing guide Emilton Brando is walking on what he says should be flooded land.
00:07Instead, it's dried to a crisp.
00:10Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state, home to the Pantanal wetlands, is being ravaged by
00:16fires.
00:17EMILTON BRANDO, Fishing Guide, Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul State, says,
00:19Pantanal was supposed to be flooded at this time.
00:22It's known as the largest wetland in the world.
00:25And now we see it here.
00:26It's like a desert, an inferno, fire everywhere.
00:30With a wall of smoke choking off the other side of the field, Brando helps farmer Clayton
00:36José save his cattle.
00:39The ranch is accessible by boat, but the area where the cattle are stuck can only be navigated
00:44by horse due to the nature of the wetlands.
00:46CLAYTON JOSÉ, Farmer Through the Fire Manager We're trying to take them to the other side
00:50of the bay, so they have a better chance of surviving.
00:53The way the fire is coming, it could surround them, and they could burn to death.
00:57There was a 980% increase in the number of fires in the Pantanal through June 5th, compared
01:04with the same period last year.
01:06That's according to satellite data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research.
01:11Those figures are raising alarm bells as the region heads into the riskiest season for
01:16wildfires, which usually starts in July and peaks in August and September.
01:22Brando says the country is in reverse, pointing to Rio Grande do Sul, which has experienced
01:27devastating flooding.
01:29CLAYTON JOSÉ, Farmer Through the Fire Manager It's just sadness, sadness to see a sanctuary
01:37like this coming to an end.
01:39So much life ends along with the flames.