Par
Emilien Vicens
Published on
Nov 6, 2024 at 3:43 p.m.
; updated Nov 6, 2024 at 3:53 p.m.
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It's a interminable intervention which ends with a smile. This Tuesday, November 5, in the middle of the night, a hunting dog was saved by firefighters and cavers from the Pyrénées-Orientales. The animal had fallen into a cavity, in the town of Formiguères and remained blocked for more than three days.
The female dog falls into a difficult-to-access hole
The story begins Saturday, November 2, early in the afternoon. “The alert processing center of the Pyrénées-Orientales fire department received a call for a dog stuck in a cavity during a hunting activity in the town of Formiguères,” reports the prefecture.
Means were quickly deployed by the Catalan emergency services. “The first elements appear unfavorable with a complex configuration. The dog, a fox terrier, is stuck in a cavity located in a difficult to access area in the forest. The dimensions of the access do not allow staff to view the interior of the cavity and therefore locate the animal,” state services detail.
Speleologists reinforce the firefighters
Initially, firefighters specializing in rescue and clearance are mobilized. The latter secure the work area by carrying out actions to purge unstable rock blocks located above the entrance to the cavity. The entrance to the latter is then widened “to allow rescuers to enter the underground environment”.
It was only this Tuesday, November 5, in the afternoon that the final intervention was launched. The ORSEC departmental underground rescue plan is underway, with the mobilization of external reinforcements from Spéléo Secours Français (SSF):
Supported by firefighters, these specialists implement specialized techniques and specific means, in particular the use of explosive microcharges which made it possible to free rock blocks from the cavity, to widen the hose and to progress until the animal.
The animal “in satisfactory condition”
After more than three days of anguish, the good news finally came yesterday, around 11:50 p.m.: the dog stuck more than four meters away of the input is retrieved. Immediately taken care of by a firefighter veterinarian, she was examined on site.
“Her general condition is satisfactory, she only presents a slight dehydration with a small wound on one leg and will be handed over to the owner,” concludes the Pyrénées-Orientales prefecture. This intervention will undoubtedly remain one of the most significant of the year for the department's firefighters.
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