Weeks after the Glass Fire tore through a Sonoma County park, officials on Friday said a trail camera has captured the wildlife’s return to the area.
September’s wildfire charred more than 80% of the Hood Mountain Regional Park, quickly displacing animals from their homes, Sonoma County Regional Parks officials said.
But there has been signs of wildlife returning to the area.
A camera that captured flames consuming Valley View Trail also caught a jackrabbit hopping along the same trail just hours later as the embers and smoke cleared, park officials said.
In the days and weeks that followed, a variety of different animals were seen traveling on the trail through the park.
A montage video released by the agency shows what appears to be some deer, a skunk and at least one bobcat making their way across the burned trail. In the background, birds could be heard chirping — signaling their return to the trees overhead.
The wildfires that devastated California this year have killed, injured and displaced wildlife throughout the state.
Rescue groups have reported rescuing mountain lions and black bears with paws burned by the flames and finding orphaned mountain lion cubs.
More than 4 million acres burned this year as the state suffered the largest wildfire in its history, the August Complex Fire in Northern California.
