Animals drown in a flood-damaged shopping center store in southern Brazil

A large number of animals of various species drowned in a store belonging to the Cobasi company, one of the largest companies selling animals and animal products in Brazil, in a store damaged by the floods that devastated southern Brazil, and until this Saturday, 154 people were killed and another 94 missing lead. The store operated on the ground floor of a large shopping center in the Praia de Belas area, in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state, Porto Alegre.

The store, located next to the shopping center’s basement parking lot, was completely submerged, floor to ceiling, as a result of severe flooding, and was not accessible until this Saturday, May 18, two weeks after the flooding began. . Cobasi released a statement saying there was no way that any of the animals it sold would have survived and defended itself or its employees from liability for the animals’ deaths.

According to the report, store employees had to flee the emergency facility when flood waters began to engulf the mall’s basement, but the company says they tried to protect the lives of the animals for sale before leaving. According to the text, the store employees moved all the animals to higher ground of the establishment and left them with enough water and food to last for several days so that they could survive until they were rescued, not imagining that the flood would rise so high.

The company could not say how many animals were sold in the store, which is still filled to the ceiling with water. But in addition to the traditional dogs and cats, people who knew this place said that several other species of birds, fish and rodents lived here.

Thousands of animals, including large animals such as horses and oxen caught in the floods that swept through urban and rural areas across 88% of Rio Grande do Sul state, died across the state in the tragedy, but at least 10,500 people were saved. volunteers, people who risked their own lives to save their pets and animals from strangers who were ready to drown or desperate on treetops and rooftops surrounded by flood water. Among them were the rescue of a horse that spent several days on the roof of an isolated building and was lifted by a helicopter, and a mare that was rescued through the window of an apartment on the third floor of another building, where it was the subject of major media coverage. widely reported in the media, he took cover after entering the building through a door left behind by fleeing residents and climbing the stairs as floodwaters also rose.