So much of the last two weeks’ storm news has focused on people and their losses/ needs/ personal dramas – but animals too have been caught out by Portugal’s wild weather – and they too have been relying on the help of firefighters.
Salvaterra de Magos fire station has been transporting animal feed to around 200 animals “isolated on various islands in the Tejo river” for days.
It’s not a rescue, commander Paulo Dionísio, explains – it’s just a way of keeping the animals’ sustained while accesses usually available to farmers are blocked by dint of floodwaters.
“We are taking bales of hay to various parts of the Tejo” he told SIC.
The animals – donkeys/ horses/ cattle were identified by the use of a drone. They could not be seen by the boats in which firefighters have been patrolling.
“We will have to continue as long as it is necessary”, Dionísio tells SIC – adding that the wet conditions are also not good for the cattle’s feet. Horses are better equipped.
But even so, four horses had to be rescued from the Almansor river last Friday by firefighters from Samora Correio, as they found themselves stranded.
A video of their rescue can be seen below.
