Ontario Wildfires: A Growing Threat to Wildlife and Communities

Canada is known for its beautiful forests and diverse wildlife. However, due to climate change and human-driven environmental damage, the rising global temperatures are creating increasingly severe environmental problems around the world. 

In Europe, during June and July, we witnessed record-breaking heat waves across the continent with some cities hitting over 40°C. In Canada, the extreme temperatures have contributed to massive wildfires across northern parts of Canada. This includes the northern territories, Alberta and BC, but even more recently, Ontario. 

The wildfires, as seen on the news and social media, have covered many Ontario cities like Toronto in a thick orange haze. It was so bad that, on July 15, Toronto recorded the worst air quality in North America.

Toronto haze on July 15th, 2026

The poor air quality does not only affect humans… It also has harmful consequences for wildlife and natural ecosystems. 

Wildfires Across Northern Ontario 

According to CTV News, there are currently almost 200 active wildfires burning across northern Ontario. There are many dangers that come with the rising temperature and the fires. 

The wildfires spread across Ontario from CTV News

Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes. There are over ten communities that have been affected by the wildfires and have had to evacuate. There are also many remote lakes that have been evacuated, including Como Lake, Crystal Lake, Eva Lake, and Magnetic Lake, due to the fires. 

The Cost to Wildlife

While most of the news focuses on the destruction of homes and the evacuation of communities, the impact on wildlife is often overlooked, but still a major factor. 

As many people know, the immediate physical damage to the forests and plants is immense. Animals and insects part of these ecosystems are burned or killed and their natural habitats are destroyed leading to forced displacement and relocation. This can cause difficulty for them to find new safe places to live or be forced to move in areas where there are more predators. The animals can suffer from burns, but also smoke inhalation, dehydration, and starvation. Wildfires drastically reduce air quality and contaminate water sources. 

The destruction of our forests can take years to recover, leaving wildlife without a proper environment for shelter and breeding. As the National Wildlife Federation explains:

"Some animals do die in the flames of wildfires, mostly the elderly and very young animals who can't escape. However, the majority of wildlife mortalities come after the fire is out, due to the loss of important habitat and food sources burned in the fire." 

The effects of wildfires continue and they are very difficult to put out when there are multiple and have grown to be so large. Entire ecosystems may require years to regenerate, and as climate change continues to increase the severity, frequency and duration of wildfires will continue to grow. Causing environmental harm to both them and to us.