The cold spell has been tough on humans and pets, but animals in the wild have no refuge from the cold at the end of the day.

Conservation Officer Lindsey Leko explained that most species have adapted to the harsh prairie winter.

"In the wintertime, they'll eat a lot more and move around less, so in cold weather, they'll just hunker down and eat and eat and not use up a lot of the energy that it's going to take them to survive the cold period. So, deer, for example, have adapted rather well to our cold winters."

He said animals like deer will herd up to stay warm and hang out in sheltered areas like farmyards.

Leko said it often takes multiple variables other than the cold to harm animals in the wild.

"Sometimes it will be how deep the snow is. If there's lots of coyotes and the snow is deep sometimes the deer got an issue with avoiding the predators. If you get a shallow snow with a rain on it and you get a crust on, sometimes it can damage a deer's legs."

The weather is seeing a slight warm up, with Environment Canada forecasting a daily high of -10 degrees Celsius for Wednesday. February has seen several record-breaking days for cold weather, including Friday, when the mercury dipped down to -36 degrees in the Weyburn area.