The unprecedented rescue of two donkeys took place Monday afternoon on a remote beach in the northern part of Karpathos, in a Natura 2000 protected area.
Two donkeys were spotted on the isolated beach by fishermen who reported the incident to the police. Local authorities, the fire department, coast guard, volunteers and a private boat responded quickly and got the donkeys to safety. The only way to save the animals was to bring them by sea…
“First we had to get the donkeys to trust us, and then we put life jackets on them,” a firefighter (in Greece, the fire service does the work of the Ministry of Emergency Situations) told the state broadcaster ERT.
“We had to make sure that the animals did not swallow the sea water and that water did not get into their nostrils,” the fireman described the measures they took during the operation, which lasted 3 hours.
With great care, the donkeys were “dragged” to the nearby accessible Vananda Beach and handed over to the owners who were looking for them, the fireman added. How the donkeys got to this beach, neither the owners nor the rescuers know.
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