With rescue operations going on in full swing across Kerala, a Chennai-based group of boys got down to pull out several animals stranded in the floodwaters.
Hundreds of cows, goats, chicken and a large number of dogs have been drowned in the floods, washed away in swirling currents or buried in landslides, said one of the rescuers, while speaking to News18 from Kottayam.
The team consisting of four rescuers – Nishanth Nichu, Dinesh Baba, Arjun S and Albert Peter travelled from Tamil Nadu to help the stranded animals.
On Sunday, the team rescued 19 dogs from the backyard of a breeder’s house in Kottayam.
“We are here for the past three days. At first, we went to the most-affected district of Idukki, where the flooded areas are under control of Army and NDRF. People have been evacuated from these places already. Most of the animals in Idukki were found dead – and it was impossible for just the four of us to initiate rescue work in that area. So, we left Idukki and took another route through Kochi to reach Kottayam. Here, we rescued 19 dogs from a breeder’s house. The owner has also been shifted to safety,” said Nishanth Nichu.
Dogs of different breeds were left in the house close to the backwaters. Some were found locked inside kennels under 4 feet deep water, while a few pups were found trembling atop furniture pushed against the walls of flooded rooms.
The barking grew louder as the team approached the stranded canines. Each dog was carefully moved to the rescue boats and rowed back to land — safe and sound.
“We took a boat to reach this house as the water was 15-20 feet deep. We rescued all the dogs, piled them onto boats and got them to land. They are 100% safe now,” said Nichu.
The team has rescued around 45 animals so far, working hard with little or no food and having to sleep either in pavement or inside their car.
An animal rescue helpline number has also been made operational. It can be reached at: +919167466569.
“We were running on bread and biscuit for three days and managed to catch 3-4 hours of sleep. Today, we got a room. Our goal is to save, and we are already working on our next rescue point,” Nichu remarked as they geared up for the next stop where a pack of dogs have been trapped in floodwaters since past five days.
Over 7 lakh people are living in relief camps throughout the state and death toll in the devastating floods has gone up to over 350.
Emergency crew from Navy, Airforce and Army, along with Coast Guard, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and paramilitary forces, have been conducting rescue operations since past few days and the focus remains on saving lives of people across Kerala in the worst flooding in a century the state has witnessed.
Comments
0 comment