Animal rights activist Shravan Krishnan first wrote about the incident on his social media page, highlighting that the group of animal rights activists from Chennai has been on the road for the past three days, travelling to flood-affected regions and rescuing as many animals as they could. He wrote about the particularly tough rescue that the team orchestrated on Sunday - rescuing 18 dogs from an almost-submerged house in Kottayam.

“The house and the dogs belonged to a lady who seemed to be a backyard breeder and a hoarder. Her house was right next to the backwaters and had 10 feet of water. The team had to take a boat in and rescue these animals from neck-deep water. These animals and the owner have been moved to a safe place and the team has moved on to the next rescue. The entire operation took close to two hours and everyone is safe,” wrote Shravan.

Nishanth Ravi, one of the city’s animal rescuer who is currently in Kerala, was a part of the rescue, along with  Dinesh Baba,  Arjun Shan and Albert Peter Christopher. Tracing their journey so far, Nishanth explained, “Three days ago, we came to Idukki, since we heard it was the most affected area and the one with an accessible route. The Army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were conducting rescues. But due to landslides, most animals were dead. Then we headed to Kottayam and Ernakulam, where we conducted a few rescues — following which we will be heading to Chengannur, from where we received close to ten rescue calls.”