Russian animal activist’s grit and love give dog trapped in well a second life!

It was the sheer grit and unlimited compassion of Ms Polina, a Russian animal activist now based in Varkala, that gave the street dog a new lease of life. The dog, which appeared to be around one year old, had been trapped in a deep and dingy well with no curbs since Tuesday (October 6). It was a rubber tapper who came to the nearby rubber plantation who first saw the dog; it was wailing for help, looking for a straw of life…

The worker was helpless but kind enough to inform the landowner and the neighbours. The landowner’s son, Siva, tried all means, like lowering buckets and baskets, to pull out the dog, but with little success. He tried calling the Fire and Rescue personnel, who said a circular issued by the previous government prevented them from rescuing dogs, cats or other such animals. He made an emergency call through social media, but no help arrived. As days passed, he started losing hope. As a last resort, he called the Thiruvananthapuram-based NGO People For Animals, which passed on the information to Polina, who is associated with another NGO, Operation Street Dog Varkala.

Polina and her team rushed to the spot with ropes and other essential equipment at around 6 pm on Thursday. What unfolded was something incredible… God’s hands at play.

This is how Polina narrates the great rescue operation, ‘We tried to pull the dog out of the well with a basket for several hours, and I kept trying to go down. The locals gave us two baskets. We bought two ropes, but they were quite thick. It was difficult to hold them in our hands, and the rocks at the site kept breaking.

We asked the firefighters to help, and the police also arrived. They said it was very dangerous to dive, as there was very little oxygen there. It was already very dark, and I said, panicking, ‘...the dog will die before morning if there's no oxygen...’ But then I saw the firefighters untangling a thick rope, and they had a really big rescue basket.

The firefighters lowered the basket, and guess what, the dog was in there and was up on the rocks within three minutes. They were just heroes. And there were so many caring people around—it was such a joy. Then I planned to pick up the dog, but she ran away faster than I could get the net. God bless such heroes, and thanks everyone who made it happen.’

After being in the well without food for two days, the dog looked emaciated and traumatised.

Hailing Polina’s strong determination to rescue that dog, that too a street dog, under adverse conditions, Siva, said no local person there would have dared to do what Polina had done. Darkness had set in, and the well, with a depth of around 15 metres, was old, no longer in use and had crumbling inner walls.

‘Though the Fire Force personnel came to rescue Polina and her assistant, who were adamant about going down the well despite the lack of oxygen, they finally lent their helping hand after she did a lot of beseeching and coaxing. The rescue reminded me of the climax scene of the Malayalam movie ‘Manjummel Boys’. She was really God-sent… unbelievably dedicated to the cause, and the dog was too lucky not to die,’ says Siva, who was there through to the end of the rescue mission.

Polina has been in Varkala since 2011, treating, feeding and adopting street dogs, some of them sick or debilitated. Now she has 155 dogs in her shelter in Varkala.
Before leaving, Polina told Siva: ‘If that baby (the rescued dog) comes this way again, call me immediately. I’ll take her with me and give her a better, healthier life.’

K C Asok