CUnlike other departmental fire and rescue services (Sdis) in France, the Landes firefighters do not have a unit specialized in animal risks. For each so-called “animal intervention” request, an all-purpose vehicle (UTV) is sent with two firefighters, professionals or volunteers, without specific skills. They can still count on the availability of volunteer fire-fighting veterinarians, ready to be called if necessary. There are four of them for the whole department; Nicolas Mirabaud is their leader.
He dreamed of becoming a breeder of Aquitaine blondes. “My grandfather, originally from Lot-et-Garonne, had a herd, I wanted to follow his path. » Landless, he opted for veterinary work and left school in 2008. Nicolas Mirabaud chose to settle in Gabarret. “Without knowing why, I liked the place,” he explains.
There too, by chance or destiny, he became a volunteer firefighter. “It wasn’t really in my plans, in fact I had never heard of it. When I took over from Doctor Durand, he was the one who initiated me. » More than a vocation, the father wants to do “his part of the job. I humbly share my knowledge with them to give back to the firefighters what they otherwise give. It’s teamwork. »
Incongruous requests
If the 42-year-old man has superpowers, we shouldn’t imagine him being surprised by his beep in the middle of operating on a cat and going to put out a fire. “I am confined to my role as a veterinarian and nothing else. » His purple, not black, captain’s badge marks the difference.
Nicolas Mirabaud manages 90% of interventions by telephone.
Matthieu Sartre
After a little caress to Souk, the clinic mascot, he continues: “90% of the time, I am contacted by phone, voicemail, or Facetime. In the summer, it can increase to four or five calls per week. My role is to advise those who intervene to act safely, that they take the appropriate actions. I also anticipate needs. It’s a big part of the job. »
Often too, Nicolas Mirabaud is called to decide on the crazy requests of those, “in distress”, who dial 18. “Last time, a lady called us to come and get her patou (a very heavy and bulky, Editor’s note) for a visit to the veterinarian. Clearly, that is not part of our missions, even if they have evolved a lot. » The whole question is knowing where to start and where to stop, when dealing with the animal, between the rural code and the penal code. The captain knows it well: “This is going to be the challenge for the next few years. Whether or not to respond to increasingly incongruous requests. »
The only one who can shoot
Since he started in 2011, Nicolas Mirabaud estimates that he has carried out around fifty interventions. “Each year, we share around 20 in the department. » Among the most emblematic, he remembers the calf which escaped from the slaughterhouse and sowed discord in Mont-de-Marsan. There were also the nine foals wandering near Créon-d’Armagnac, horses that had fallen into water points that were not very accessible. The most exotic: “Arrow a kangaroo taken out of its enclosure and a bull from a Landes racing cow farm. »
In intervention, he is the only one qualified to remotely anesthetize an animal. The practice has serious consequences. “The animal must be in a secure place. If I shoot a deer, for example, and it escapes. He risks causing an accident before falling asleep. Above all, you should know that its flesh, contaminated by anesthetic products, is unfit for consumption. For a certain period of time, it can kill a man. »
Baby lions and tigers
The most significant intervention in his career is very recent. This concerns the accident, on December 10, of a truck transporting 180 pigs, on the A 65. “It lasted almost six hours. I had to euthanize 20 animals. Then, we had to find barriers, not perforated, otherwise the pigs would run into them, to create a corridor and evacuate the living to another truck. »
When he exchanges with counterparts from other departments, Nicolas Mirabaud knows the Landes are still preserved. “I have never been confronted with large snakes, nor with servals or baby lions or tigers. Where we live, it’s still very rural. »
Asked about the project to install the first sanctuary for big cats in Mézos, the captain responded: “Precisely, I am going to get in touch with the owner. » Always with this idea of anticipation.
