These Trained Border Collies Are Helping To Restore Chilean Forests Destroyed By Fire

Francesca Torres, who owns the NGO, decided to send her trained border collies into the charred forest remains to sow seeds, grass and flowers in the now-bare earth.

Torres hopes that sprouting grass and plants will help attract animals back to the area.

The majority of fauna in the El Maule region either died in the fires or had to escape to survive. With their food sources eviscerated by the flames, there was nothing to draw them back to forests and facilitate ecological recovery.

The dogs, who belong to Torres and are named Das, Olivia and Summer, can run up to 30 kilometers in a day, spreading 10 kilos of seeds.

A human being could only travel roughly 1/10th of that distance in the same timeframe.

Torres' dogs have covered thousands of acres in the three months they've been running the forests.

So far, the dogs have sowed seeds and flowers in 15 different forests in El Maule, and many of the areas are already turning green again. Torres noted that some of the area's animals, notably foxes, lizards and some rabbits, have already been spotted in the forests again.

Torres pays for the project out of her own pocket. She has, however, begun receiving donations from those who want to help her keep going.