Rescuers from the Szczecin fire brigade managed to rescue 13 deer from the lake, partly by tying them with ropes, but an estimated 19 others were drowned.
“Because more than 20 deer fell into the water because of someone’s stupidity, I never saw anything like that. The rescuers and I just stood there and wept,” said Arkadiusz Borowski, a local hunter who participated in the Operation rescue.
“Today we want to report a suspected crime, cruelty to animals,” added Borowski. “We received reliable and detailed information, including registration plate numbers and the names of the people involved.”
Rescuers used flat-bottomed boats and sleds to help bring dead animals to the water’s surface, concerned with ensuring that the corpses did not end up contaminating the lake.
“The animals were in a herd, which made the operation more complicated, but we managed, after a lot of physical effort,” Tomasz Kubiak, a spokesman for the Szczecin fire brigade, told Polish private broadcaster TVN.