Updated
Nine rescue workers in the German town of Bensheim have saved a rat with “a lot of winter flab” that had become stuck in a sewer manhole cover.
Key points:
- A young girl reportedly found the distressed, squeaking rat and local authorities in Bensheim, Germany were alerted
- A large number of animal rescue workers and volunteer firefighters attended the scene to save the rotund female rodent
- Some unusually sympathy-inducing photographs were captured, and the animal was released
The animal was freed on Sunday afternoon after a large recovery operation by local animal rescue workers and volunteer firefighters.
It had crawled halfway through the cover before becoming stuck fast around the mid section and becoming distressed.
According to the BBC, a young girl found the squeaking rodent and local authorities were alerted to its dilemma.
Volunteers at the local fire department then received a call with the code “animal rescue, small animal” — and responded to save the rather rotund female rodent.
“She had a lot of winter flab and was stuck fast at her hip — there was no going forward or back,” animal rescuer Michael Sehr reportedly told local media.
Responding to questions about why so many people needed to be involved in the rescue operation, Mr Sehr was unequivocal.
“Even animals that are hated by many deserve respect,” he said.
When emergency responders arrived at the tense scene, Mr Sehr, who works for a local animal rescue service called Rhein Neckar, was already there.
The nailbiting operation saw the full complement of attending firefighters using metal hooks and long rods to lift the manhole cover and prop it up, while filming the whole thing for a video that was later posted on the Rhein Neckar YouTube account.
Some close-up photos were captured of the little lady before Mr Sehr freed her from the cover and it was released back into the sewer.
Members of the Rhein Neckar animal rescue team later uploaded photos of the rescue to their Facebook page, attracting hundreds of likes and dozens of comments.
“That pleading little face! I’m so glad it was rescued!” one commenter said.
“Well done all. Showing kindness in this way is what makes human beings special,” wrote another.
Someone else took a more comical view of the situation, saying: “Literally me trying to fit into my jeans after the holidays!”
And a social media star was born.
No phobias for rescuers
For some, the efforts of the rescuers would have been unthinkable.
Some rare or unusual phobias:
- Papaphobia: Fear of the Pope
- Pogonophobia: Fear of beards
- Somniphobia: Fear of falling asleep
- Xanthophobia: Fear of the colour yellow
- Genuphobia: Fear of knees
- Nomophobia: Fear of being without mobile phone coverage
Musophobia, or the fear of mice and rats is one of the most common specific phobias, according to Musophobia.com.
It is often “created at some point in the person’s past when they had a traumatic experience with a mouse or rat”, the website says.
“Examples of this could be having your house or room invaded by them, finding them eating your food, being surprised when they jump from a trash can, touching them while getting up as they run from under furniture, or getting sick from them.”
But none of the rescuers seemed to have had any qualms about saving the rat, and Mr Sehr got his reward in the form of a hand-drawn picture of the animal, surrounded by red love hearts, from the young girl who first found the creature.
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