Poachers killed nineteen deer in Poland by scaring them with firecrackers. The animals ran terrified onto a frozen lake, the ice broke and the deer fell into the cold water. Rescuers were able to save thirteen deer, but nineteen drowned.
“Today, we want to report a suspected crime, animal cruelty. We have received credible, detailed information, including the registration plate numbers and names of people involved,” Arkadiusz Borowski, a local hunter who was part of the rescue operation, said.
“These people are poachers, hunting for antlers, they followed the herd and near the village of Powalice, in a small birch tree forest, they threw firecrackers at the animals scaring the herd,” Borowski said.
The rescuers used flat-bottom boats and guided the deer back to land by throwing a rope around them and pulling them in the right direction. After saving the deer who were still alive, they started bringing up the dead animals from the water.
“The animals were in a herd, this made the operation more complicated, but we managed, after hard, physical effort,” Tomasz Kubiak, a spokesman for the Szczecin fire brigade, said.