Three dogs spent a month without water and food on the lava-filled island of La Palma, waiting for rescuers. Rescuers wanted animals to be pulled out by drones, but finally, the dogs were saved by a mysterious “team”, the Daily Posts states.
The eruption of the volcano Cumbre Vieja on the Spanish island of La Palma, which is part of the Canary Islands, began on September 20. As of October 22, the volcanic eruption is still ongoing.
On the Spanish island of La Palma, where the Cumbre Véja volcano has been erupting since September 19, rescuers have been preparing to evacuate three dogs stuck through magma in one of the yards for about a week.
Rescuers found them with the help of Aerocamaras drones.
The animals were exhausted and at the time of their discovery people cannot evacuate them. Emergency crews have looked at using helicopters to rescue the animals, but that plan was ruled out because the aircraft could be put at risk from ash and pyroclastic rocks, according to Aerocamaras.
The dogs were fed by dropping water and food, and the evacuation was scheduled for October 25.
During the next food delivery on October 20, the dogs disappeared.
Animal rights activists published a video of the rescued dogs and left a banner with the words “Dogs in order” in the pool where they lived.
It is unknown how the unknown rescuers reached the yard – the areas covered with magma are closed for passage.
Helicopters are also forbidden to fly over them due to hot evaporation, which can damage the propellers, so rescuers have to work only with the use of drones.
The Spanish animal protection organization Leales believes that the “team” most likely used technology to detect “cold” and frozen paths through the bench.
The dogs belong to a 70-year-old hunter who was hunting on the day the Cumbre-Vieja volcano erupted.
The last time the animals saw their owner was when a man took them on a hunt. Then representatives of the guard met and evacuated the pensioner, they didn’t allow to take animals with him.
However, the dogs escaped – they instinctively returned to the house and hid in the pool, where the bench could not get them.
There were conflicting reports about the number of dogs. El Pais and other Spanish media agencies say four dogs needed to be rescued, while Reuters says there are three.
A local animal rights group named Leales.org, which originally raised the issue of the trapped dogs, has set up a fundraiser on GoFundme. The drive was originally meant to pay for Aerocámaras’ expenses, but the drone company said on October 17 that it would not charge the animal group for its services. The money raised by the crowdfunding drive will instead be used to cover La Palma animal shelters’ outstanding debts with veterinary clinics and to help other animals affected by the volcanic eruption, El Pais states.
Drones have already been used to bring food and water to the dogs and other animals that were trapped by lava in the village of Todoque, in an operation that began around October 5, the island’s governing council said.
The volcano and its lava flows are currently in something of a holding pattern, authorities in La Palma said on October 19. No new evacuations are in the works, although experts are preparing preventive measures in neighborhoods along the coast, in case the lava enters the sea nearby and creates toxic gases.
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