THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The firemen have turned animal saviours. Cat scratches or dog bites do not deter this group of Good Samaritans from going that extra mile and saving the animals. Be it curious cats with their heads stuck between the railings, dogs trapped in sewers, or ungulates trapped in wells, the firemen have all these covered.Trained by experience and with makeshift gears that they have developed, the firemen rescue both stray and domestic animals.
Animal rescue has emerged as a significant mission of the Fire and Rescue Services. There are 14 Fire and Rescue Stations in the district. In all, more than 100 animals have been rescued by the department in 2021, in Thiruvananthapuram district alone. The fire tender used is an Emergency Rescue Tender which is fully equipped with hydraulic equipment and doesn’t contain water. This tender is used in rescues involving animals, accident cases and so on.
The firemen have developed a lot of gears to aid in their rescue mission. “On an average, of the 60 calls we get, four would deal with animal rescues. The firemen have all become experts through experience. The gears used for rescue have all been developed in-house. And priority is always given to such rescue calls,” says Praveen D, station officer, Fire and Rescue Station, Thiruvananthapuram main station.Most of the animal rescues take hours and the list is endless. The rescue calls involve pet animals trapped in small spaces, stray animals stuck in sewers, birds caught in kite strings, livestock trapped in abandoned wells and marshy areas and so on.
While cases of snake rescues arise, it is handled by a few of the firemen who are adept at this. “These calls come to us when the snake catchers aren’t available, mostly at night. We only respond if we have the personnel skilled at handling the snakes,” he adds. Although there are several cases involving pets and some wild species, the major rescue involves stray animals. The longest rescues often involve dogs with their head trapped in bottles.
“We often spend days trying to help the animal out of misery. The challenging ones often involve livestock getting trapped in abandoned wells. For that we use an equipment we created using the hose and then we lug the animal out of the well,” he adds.
Despite the department issuing an order that the firemen needn’t rescue animals, they continue to attend to the rescue calls considering the lives at stake. “We aren’t professionally trained but trained by experience. We never say no to any such rescue calls. We take cases that we can help out. It’s a life we are talking about and we are happy to help,” says Binu, V, fire rescue officer.