Firefighters waded through knee-deep flood water on Friday, staking out a safe escape route for a herd of about 100 horses huddled together on a small knoll where they have been stranded for three days.
Water that turned the earthen mound into an island had receded enough for horses and rescuers, including veterinarians, firefighters and animal welfare officers, to wade out to the stranded animals, local mayor Wil van den Berg told reporters.
The plight of the stranded horses has fascinated the country, which has followed the rescue attempts on television and in newspapers since a storm surge early on Tuesday pushed sea water into the wilderness area outside the dikes of Marrum, a town 145km north-east of Amsterdam.
One horse died on Thursday night, a veterinarian said, bringing the total number of animals killed from drowning or exposure to 19.
Rescuers planned to use other horses to lead the panicky animals, including several foals, back to dry land on Friday.
”We plan to mark out a safe track through the water,” which was less than a metre deep in most places but up to 2m deep where the surrounding fields are crisscrossed with drainage channels, Van den Berg said.
The channels, along with submerged barbed-wire fences, are difficult to see in the brackish flood waters, hampering rescue efforts.
Once the track — about 600m long — has been staked out, rescuers on horse back and firefighters, some in small boats, will head out to the animals and lead them back to a dike, where they can rest before being led to a dry pasture, Van den Berg said.
By early afternoon, six ”guide” horses with riders had waded out to join the herd, preparing to get the operation under way.
Rescuers have been feeding the animals with hay and giving them fresh water to drink to keep up their strength.
Marrum’s fire department floated or ferried about 20 horses, including the smallest foals, to safety with the help of small boats on Wednesday, but since then their rescue efforts have been stalled.
Dutch television and newspapers have shown dramatic images of the horses huddled together, their backs to the wind whipping up small waves in water surrounding their isolated island.
The Dutch army also tried to rescue the animals on Wednesday afternoon, but called off the operation when water levels receded to less than a metre in some places, grounding pontoon boats.
Van der Berg said helicopters were ruled out for transporting the animals, as the noise and lights might have panicked the animals and caused more to drown.
The Netherlands’s Party for the Animals said it has filed a complaint against the horses’ owner, and the operator of the wilderness area where they are stranded, since The Netherlands’ national weather service had put the country on alert for rising flood waters early on Tuesday.
The Agriculture Ministry ordered an investigation into the incident. ”We’re going to work together with prosecutors to see whether there was any criminal act committed,” spokesperson Anita Douven said. ”That could be negligence, or possibly mishandling of the animals.” — Sapa-AP