White-tailed Deer in Saskatchewan Wildfire Smoke

This evening, I saw a deer run across a field and then over the road into a thicket of trees.

Not unusual here at St. Peter's Abbey, near Muenster, Saskatchewan — except that normally, a photograph of a White-tailed Deer at that distance would be crisp and clear.

Not today.

White-tailed deer crosses the road in a haze of smoke.  ©SB

There are 111 wildfires now burning in Saskatchewan, and smoke continues to blanket the province.

We had a brief reprieve this morning, but then dense smoke pushed back in this afternoon. (Yes, I'm quoting from the Weather.gc.ca local web page.)

And the White-tailed Deer I saw today, while well within the range of my camera for details, was too far off into the pervasive smoke/fog to capture either colour or contrast.

Smoke is everywhere. The infernos are several hundred kilometres away, but gritty gray waves drift across this prairie and beyond. Visibility is poor. Air quality, too.

And this story is so much bigger than one smoke-blurred deer. The wildfires are too close to homes; thousands of people have been evacuated to centres throughout Saskatchewan and in Alberta. They don't know how long they'll be gone, or whether their homes and pets will be safe, left behind. And the flames and smoke continue.

We pray for fire-dousing rain.


What is this? White-tailed Deer,
Location: Near Muenster, Saskatchewan, Canada  

Photo date: July 4, 2015. 

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