TRIGGER WARNING: Content may cause distress or upset to viewers.
Thanks to the efforts of this team of Firefighters, an adorable rat goes on to live another day!
In Germany, after trying to squeeze through the hole of a manhole cover, a rat found itself in trouble!
The rat got itself stuck in the hole, and now needed rescuing. Luckily, a team of German Firefighters were there to save the rat.
The team got to work, and after carefully raising the manhole cover, they then freed the rat by pulling it to safety.
The rescue mission took a team of eight Firefighters and the rescued rat was happy and unhurt, and promptly released back into the sewer.
The multi-agency emergency rescue mission took place in the German town of Bensheim. The Firefighter department received a call on Sunday, 24th February, about a rat needing rescuing, and they were straight on it!
When the team of Volunteer Firefighters arrived, they had worked with local animal rescuers to quickly figure out how they were going to rescue the rat without hurting her.
Some people have questioned why so much effort was made for a sewer rat, but Michael Sehr, 38, a local Professional Animal Rescuer in Rhein-Neckar, who helped to save the rat, said, “even animals that are hated by many deserve respect.”
Michael had tried to save the rat from the manhole cover, but was unable to release the rat without hurting her. So, he realised that he’s going to need more help.
Michael believed it was too difficult to release the rat because, “she had a lot of winter flab, and was stuck fast at her hip. There was no going forward or back”.
The unfortunate rat was first spotted by local resident, Knut, on his way home to his two daughters, and wife, Juliana.
“When my husband came home, he thought that the rat was just sitting there at first” said Juliana. Once Knut took a closer look, he was shocked to discover that the rat was stuck.
Juliana recalls, “we tried to free the animal ourselves. We took leather working gloves and tried to carefully twist it out of the hole.”
“It was terrified, screamed terribly, and bit into the glove.” The bite gave Juliana the idea to try pulling the rat while she was gripping the glove with her teeth, but that didn’t work either.
The couple began to lose hope, and called in the help of Michael Sehr, a local professional animal rescuer.
Michael quickly assessed that he too would need extra help, so made a call to the local firefighter department. Michael Sehr and the couple stayed with the rat to make sure it wasn’t run over.
When the Firefighters arrived, they quickly got to work on rescuing the trapped rat.
They used tools to open the manhole cover and to prop it up while they worked on releasing the rat. Next came the challenge of freeing the rat! They decided the safest way to do this would be to use a noose on a pole. This would minimise stress on the rat, and reduce the risk of the rescue team being bitten.
Michael said, “it was an unbureaucratic act on a Sunday. Since we have no contact with the municipality, we have simply acted under the Animal Welfare Act and saved the animal.”
Usually, this type of rescue mission would be billed at around €120 ($129/£106), but this time nobody had to foot the bill.
“The guys from the fire department are good buddies, they simply handled it with me.” said Michael Sehr.
Michael and the Firefighters were rewarded though, when Knut and Juliana’s two daughters, aged seven and two, drew pictures of the rat surrounded by hearts, and gave them to the rescuers.
While this rescue mission may seem overkill to a lot of people, (especially the large amount of volunteer Firefighters involved), it’s refreshing to see a rat being rescued with no judgment.
