The state says 7,350 animals were killed, mostly livestock. Officials in the counties hit say the death toll could be higher.
The Smokehouse Creek fire tore through more than 1 million acres of Texas panhandle grasslands. It killed two people. The animal casualties are much worse.
"They actually are from across the river," Hill said."When they come out, they get caught in the fire." The calves can't get vital colostrum, the milk their mothers first give to the newborns, which helps their immune system. Without it, Hill says, the calves may quickly die, and many already have. He said it could take grasslands a year or more to heal. The same could be said for legions of burned livestock.
"Most were euthanized on-site or they had burned to death and just succumbed to the fire," Crouch said. "Well, for some families, it stopped their way of life. They've lost it all and they won't be back," Holloway said."In the long term it depends on the rain. This land needs to not have anything on it right now and it needs to recover, I'm gonna say into mid-summer," Hill said.
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