By Peter Biello
Wilmington, NC – As the fire burns in Pender County's Holly Shelter, animals are dying or trying to escape.
North Carolina Audubon's Andy Wood says deer and bears can run from the fire, but slow-moving animals, like red-tailed squirrels and turtles, stand a slim chance of survival. Wood says the fire is disrupting the spring bird-nesting season.
Many of the birds are nesting in these pecosins, that's where this fire is raging right now, so we're losing, essentially, a generation of birds."
Wood says many plants will survive so long as the fire remains above ground and does not burn the roots.