Helsinki Rescue Department receives record number of animal alerts

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When information about an animal accident in the Töölö Sports Complex comes through to the City of Helsinki's central rescue station in Kallio, a Land Rover with animal rescue equipment is dispatched for a mission.
      Initially, the car was acquired and placed on standby for a potential avian 'flu outbreak. In the absence of the disease, the vehicle has been used for more current needs.
      Senior fireman Vesa Nurminen, nicknamed Pulu 1 (Pigeon 1), jumps in the bright red Land Rover and heads for the Olympic Stadium.
     
This year alone, Nurminen and his colleagues have received close to 500 alerts involving an animal. In comparison, in 2005 the number of such missions was only 352.
      "The number of rescue missions has been enormous, while in some cases the alarm has been unnecessary", says Nurminen.
      Nurminen hoped that people themselves could try to chase away birds that have come inside. Furthermore, it is not necessary to call the rescue services every time when a baby hare has been found alone without its mother.
      "Frequently, we are alerted of limping waterfowl. However, they can normally survive even if one leg were injured", Nurminen noted.
      Furthermore, the number of missions has increased partly because some tasks that have previously been handled by the City's Public Works Department or by various societies for the protection of animals have been transferred under the Rescue Department. In Nurminen's view, the centralisation of duties has made the operations more efficient and has saved money.
     
At the Töölö Sports Complex, a barnacle goose is stuck in a net. To release the bird, Vesa Nurminen needs a car with a short ladder. After the vehicle arrives, Nurminen releases the bird skilfully and puts it in a cardboard box with a cautionary text "Handle with Care - Live animal". The barnacle goose is then taken to Helsinki's Korkeasaari Zoo where it will be examined.
      Typically, over 75 per cent of the animal rescue missions involve birds.
      This year, snakes that have escaped from terraria have caused more alerts to the City's rescue services than before. A newcomer kept as a pet is the degu. A pair of these small rodents had dug themselves in under the basement of a building in the district of Haaga. One of the pair was docile, while the other bit Nurminen in the finger. A known characteristic of degus is that some of them are prone to biting.
     
If there is a backlog of missions, Nurminen has to collect several animals in his car before transporting them back to their surroundings. This is the case this time, too. Hardly has he got back into the Land-Rover before Pulu 1 is called to extricate a pigeon from a shop display window.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Waiting times for rescue services in Helsinki still too long (2.8.2006)
  Emergency call-outs caused by floods and storms up dramatically in Helsinki (5.1.2006)

Links:
  City of Helsinki Rescue Department

Helsingin Sanomat