Fire threat to Galapagos wildlife

QUITO, Ecuador - A fierce fire roared across the largest of the Galapagos islands yesterday, burning more than 2,500 acres (1,000 hectares) and threatening a unique and treasured environment, Reuter reports.

The fire on Isabela island, home of the Galapagos turtles and scores of other unique varieties of plants and reptiles, was out of control and heading towards a natural wildlife reserve, said Ecuador's civil defence department.

Officials asked other countries for help, but a civil defence spokesman that it would take heavy rain to put out the flames.

The wildlife of the Galapagos archipelago, west of the Euadorean coast, was used as the basis for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. He sailed there in 1835 and observed islands isolated from other land masses.