The nomination "Responsible for those ...": A chance foray to the place of roe deer migration turned into a rescue operation for Ilya Zaitsev.
I went with my friend Evgeny to the Black Lake in the Karasuksky district of the Novosibirsk region to carry dozens of animals to a safe place on my hands and sledges, "KP - Novosibirsk writes. Such a touching story happened 60 kilometers from the border with Kazakhstan on New Year's Eve.
There are many lakes near the town of Karasuk. But the usual habitat for animals was ruined by abnormal weather. In December, after a thaw in the south of the Novosibirsk region, frost struck, after which the lakes literally turned into mirrors. It was this glass ice that became an insurmountable barrier for wild animals, roe deer fell and could not get back on their feet.
"An acquaintance offered to take a close look at the roe deer. We had an unprecedented migration of roe deer, thousands of them came through us towards Kazakhstan. Well, when will you see an animal again? It's not far from Karasuk, but there's such a road that an ordinary car can't get there. We didn't get to the Niva either, so we had to leave it and walk three kilometers. When we climbed the hill, we saw that the whole lake was covered with roe deer. There were at least forty of them," Ilya Zaitsev said.
The animals screamed, and every time they tried to get up, their hooves slipped and their legs split apart. It was in such acrobatic poses that our heroes saw them. The men did not think long and began to move the roe deer to where the snow cover and reeds began.
"At first, 5-6 animals were pulled out, they had to be carried in their arms, and some weigh more than forty kilograms. So, they also resisted, kicked. Evgeny, my friend, was even bitten by a roe deer. Several died from hypothermia and fractures while we were trying to save the rest. My friend and I were soaked and frozen ourselves, our sneakers and pants were completely wet," Ilya Zaitsev continues.
Therefore, the rescue operation had to be curtailed and properly prepared. The men returned home, changed their clothes, took boots, a fishing sled, and loaded it all into a four-wheel drive car to get there.
"We've been thinking for a long time about how best to carry roe deer. There were a lot of them lying there. Many advised pulling on the hind legs, I tried, but realized that this was blasphemy, and decided that the most logical thing was to ride on a sleigh," recalls Ilya.
To prevent the roe deer from jumping out of the sled and kicking, nooses were thrown over the men's legs, and only then loaded into the sled. Some of the particularly nimble "goats" managed to hobble out of the rescue sled onto the ice, while others tried to punch the rescuers in the eye. And all this time, the loud cries of dozens of roe deer could be heard over Lake Chernoe.
"We drove as much as we could until all the roe deer on the ice ran out. We saved about thirty roe deer - I'm not going to lie, after the twentieth they stopped counting. Some died-they got wet, overcooled, and froze to death. We understood that they were dying when we approached them, but they did not react to us. The rescued animals ran into the woods as soon as they were ashore," says the fisherman.
The rescue operation dragged on for almost a whole day: the Siberians arrived at the lake around 11 a.m., and left after four. The next day, specialists from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Emergency Situations joined the rescue of animals that were stuck on other lakes.
Photos and videos: KP - Novosibirsk and from Ilya Zaitsev's personal archive.