Animal welfare campaigners rescued fish from a pond

Last week, the Luxembourg Animal Protection Association (ALPA) sounded the alarm over a critical drop in the water level of the pond on the grounds of Colpach-Bas Castle (Colpach-Bas), where the Red Cross rehabilitation centre is located. As a result of the prolonged drought, the stream that usually fed the pond had completely dried up. Attempts to divert water from a neighbouring spring proved unsuccessful due to the insufficient volume of water available. As a result, between 40 and 50 fish, including carp weighing around 10 kilograms, were at risk of dying.

Initially, the rescue operation was hampered by the lack of a clear plan of action. Representatives of the Red Cross and the authorities of the commune of Ell expressed their willingness to help, but lacked the necessary expertise to organise safe transport. The mayor of the commune of Ell, Claude Schmit, who visited the scene in person, described the situation as dramatic, noting the logistical difficulties in resolving the problem promptly. Furthermore, the rescue operation was hampered by physical obstacles: workers were unable to descend into the pond due to a thick layer of silt and the high risk of becoming stuck in the mud. An additional problem was the diversity of fish species, which required a specific approach to their retrieval and transport. The animal welfare campaigners also contacted the Water Management Agency to seek professional advice.

Nevertheless, last Thursday, ALPA announced the successful completion of a rescue mission organised in collaboration with the local council. In the afternoon, specialists safely removed the fish from the pond and transported them to a new habitat in the municipality of Préizerdaul. Representatives of the Red Cross, animal welfare campaigners and local authorities are currently in constant contact to develop a long-term engineering solution that will prevent a similar crisis from recurring next summer.