Sheep are drowning in flooded fields, but the owner doesn’t see the problem: it happens every year | Business

It was announced on Friday 15 minutes reader and shared the images.

According to 15 minutes contacted reader, on Friday Kėdainiai police and firefighters were unable to contact the owner of the sheep, her phone was turned off, and the police cannot take any action without permission.

Not only were the sheep not saved on Saturday, but the situation got even worse, because when the water rose on Friday, they gathered on the remaining dry “islet”, which disappeared over the weekend.

During the night, the water rose even more, so the sheep had to wade through it and look for other drier areas. The herd has separated and currently one part of the sheep is trying to get closer to the fence that encloses the territory.

According to the local residents, the sheep are no longer mekena, but bleating. They raise the question of animal care: if it is known that the water level is rising, why are the sheep not taken care of?

15 minutes as far as we know, the owner of the sheep lives 200 km from this place, she does not want to comment on the situation.

According to local residents, this area is flooded every spring. According to them, the water may still rise.

This is not the first time

Valentinas Tamulis, the mayor of Kėdainiai district municipality, said that he went to the place on Saturday to look at the situation.

According to him, the sheep are not drowning, one part of the herd – about 20 sheep – is gathered in a larger area of ​​dry grass, the other larger part – about 40 sheep – is standing on an unflooded “island”.

“Given that it didn’t rain yesterday, it didn’t rain tonight and it’s not raining now, you have to hope that the water will recede. This means that the situation will only improve and those sheep will have even more dry land.

I just spoke with the chief of the fire service, he said that he is monitoring the water level. 6 p.m. we will call again and see what the situation is. 6 p.m. and I myself will go again to see the sheep”, – 15 minutes said V. Tamulis.

According to his knowledge, fire service specialists contacted the owner of the sheep, but she refused help because she does not see the problem at the moment. Hopefully the water will recede and everything will be fine.

According to V. Tamulis, a similar situation happened last year, only that time the whole herd swam to a drier area and stayed together. This was also confirmed by one local resident, who stated that there is nothing to worry about, as this has not been happening for the first time. And before, the sheep swam to a drier area, they swam this time as well.

The regional mayor drew attention to the fact that part of the herd, which is closer to the road, is afraid of people and may run away. Therefore, rescuing them would be difficult.

“They could run off that island and swim in all different directions. This could make the situation worse. Imagine if we sneaked onto the owner’s property, if we scared away the sheep and, God forbid, one of them drowned, then the owner would make all the claims against us. They would ask: what are you waiting for? Everything can turn around.

And if it were to rain, you would definitely have to think and do something, but I still have a hard time imagining how to do it without the owner’s consent, when the owner himself tells you not to go in,” mentioned V. Tamulis.

Warned to take care of the sheep

Odeta Vaitkevičienė, representative of Kaunas County Chief Police Commissariat 15 minutes stated that he received the first notification about this situation on Friday evening, and the second one on Saturday morning, at 7:51 a.m. It was mentioned that there are about 15 sheep.

According to her, the officials responded to the report the same evening, communicated with the local elder, the surrounding residents, and the fire service regarding the possibility of transporting the sheep and finding their owner. The officials also informed the environmentalists about the situation.

“This morning, I managed to contact the owner of the sheep. It took some time, because yesterday neither the elder nor the surrounding residents gave any information about who the sheep belonged to.

The owner told the authorities this morning that she knows the situation, she came to see it herself. He mentioned that the meadow has been flooded for several years, but later it recedes, so he does not see a problem in this situation, and refused help.

She was warned to take care of the animals. The woman said that she will try to take care of those animals in the near future”, said O. Vaitkevičienė.

She admitted that indeed the services cannot take action without the owner’s permission or request for help.

“The boat has a fire service. The owner must either apply or agree to accept help so that the fire service can transport the sheep if necessary,” explained O. Vaitkevičienė.

May result in death

“A sheep is not a swimmer, it is not coded in its genes. They could swim here only because they were trying to save themselves, they were trying to perform movements similar to swimming. But they can only do this for a very short distance. And for small lambs, it may be impossible to swim out at all”, – 15 minutes said Jurgita Autukaitė, a veterinarian at the Large Animal Clinic of the Veterinary Academy of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences.

As she explained, when the wool gets wet it becomes heavy and begins to drag the sheep down, making their movement even more difficult, “it can end in death.”

“Even in cases where sheep graze near a water body, let’s say one goes to drink, if she slips and falls, she will probably not get out, she will die. Sheep are stupid and have a short memory, so even teaching them to swim would be impossible,” said J. Autukaitė.

She also mentioned that if one sheep drowned, the others could drown as well, because they are simply driven by the feeling of the herd. If one does not act properly, the others will not think of doing otherwise.

In addition, wet sheep can be chilly, and their legs are generally not covered with wool, so they get cold when they stand in water.

What’s more, the sheep likely have nothing to eat while standing in the water. As J. Autukaitė explained, since sheep are ruminant animals, they must constantly receive feed, otherwise the digestive system will be disrupted, weakness will prevail, they will grind their teeth and maybe even die. Just a day without feed can have consequences.

It would only be possible to treat those who are exhausted with medication.