The animal ambulance could use some help last night when a number of fish came to lie on dry land on the Legmeerdijk in Bovenkerk in Amstelveen. They were engaged by two young fishermen. Water was needed, and quickly. Who do you call then? The fire department.
That seemed to be the fastest solution for Dierenambulance de Ronde Venen/Amstelland. The fish, including rudd, pike and carp, were almost completely dry. “We already walked along the ditch in the morning and then there was already a big difference [red. in de waterstand]”, says Leon Wiersma, who took action together with his friend Bruce de Jong. “In the evening it was completely empty. That was not nice.”
Text continues below the video.
The boys called enforcement and they called in the forest range and animal ambulance. In the end, the fire brigade also arrived at the scene with a foam fire extinguisher, because it also has large pumps and 11,000 liters of water on board. The boys were quite impressed. “We didn’t expect so much to come.” The water took the fire service with them as an emergency solution, but in the end it didn’t have to be used.
The cause of the drought was quickly found: “They saw that an inlet on the other side of the road was completely full,” says Miriam Bosman of Dierenambulance de Ronde Venen/Amstelland. It turned out that a number of branches were stuck in the drainage pipe. When the fire brigade had removed it, the water was able to flow back into the ditch and the fish ‘breathe’ with relief.
And will the boys go fishing again? “We’ll leave them alone for a while,” Bruce said.