In addition to saving numerous humans, Croatian Mountain Rescue Service is equally efficient in helping animals.
Ever since the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service (HGSS) was established, in addition to people in distress, they have provided assistance to numerous animals which were rescued from death in the very last moment, reports Jutarnji List on January 2, 2017.
On the first day of 2017, the readiness and well-known dedication of members of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service was “tested” by a swan. Around noon, the duty officer of the HGSS office in Čakovec in northern Croatia received a phone call about a swan being “stuck” in the middle of the frozen lake of the Donja Dubrava Hydroelectric Power Plant.
The swan was completely surrounded by ice, and a three-member HGSS team used a so-called stand up kayak to save it. The swan was freed from the ice trap and brought to the shore. After checking its condition, they fed it and released it further away from the lake.
“The operation was conducted with the assistance of the 112 Emergency Centre. It should be noted that employees of the hydroelectric power plant also took part in the operation, since they enabled unhindered and quick access to HGSS members, in accordance with previously agreed procedures in the event of any interventions needed in the area of the power plant”, said the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, whose team members did not mind the fact that they had to interrupt their New Year's lunch and launch another one in a series of successful rescue operations.
