A brown horse rescued from atop a small tin roof in Brazil became a national symbol of hope this week as the country continued to combat unrelenting rain and deadly floods.
The 770-pound horse — dubbed “Caramelo” by social media users because of his honey color — was stranded for five days on top of a house almost fully engulfed by water in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.
A television news helicopter filmed the struggling stallion, which captured hearts across the country.
Brazilian influencer Felipe Neto offered to pay “any millionaire with a decent soul” to offer up a helicopter to save the steed — and later offered to adopt the animal.
Brazil’s First Lady Rosângela Lula da Silva got on the case, sharing updates from her conversations with officials mobilizing rescue efforts.
“Let’s hope that ‘Caramelo’ survived the night,” da Silva posted on X Thursday morning as rescue efforts commenced.
A team of firefighters, veterinarians, soldiers and volunteers equipped with four boats and four support vessels traveled two miles through flood waters to sedate and wrangle the horse onto an inflatable.
The operation was broadcast live on television.
“It was a very difficult operation, well beyond the standards even for specialized teams,” Bruno Schmitz, one of the vets who helped rescue Caramelo, told a Brazilian news outlet.
“I think they had never been through something like this before, but thank God everything went well,” Schmitz said.
Caramelo, who is believed to be 7 years old and was likely used by his owner to pull a cart, was found debilitated and dehydrated, according to officials, and is recovering at a veterinary hospital.
“It’s him!!!” da Silva posted after the rescue, showing a picture of the horse, whose original name was Valenta, being given medical care.
“Thank you to everyone involved in this rescue. Yes, I’m happy as hell and I feel part of it,” she wrote in a post translated from Portuguese.
“In the middle of so much heartbreak, it was like finally finding something we could root for,” Guilherme Silva, a 34-year-old resident of Porto Alegre, told the Washington Post.
“It wasn’t about valuing animal life more than human life — it was about hope,” Silva said.
“Because if a horse could survive by standing over a fragile roof, who’s to say we can’t recover from this tragedy?”
Rescue workers have saved thousands of animals abandoned in Brazil’s floods in the past weeks, according to reports, while local volunteers have likely saved thousands more.
A dramatic video from last week showed a soldier using a brick to bust through the roof of a submerged house to make a hole big enough to pull a baby out to safety.
More heavy rain is forecast for Rio Grande do Sul, with another 6 inches expected to fall over the weekend.
Intense winds are also expected and lagoon levels are likely to continue rising in the area around Porto Alegre, the state capital.
At least 136 people have died in the floods and at least 125 more are missing, authorities said.
More than 400,000 have been displaced and 70,000 are staying in gyms, schools and other temporary shelters.
With Post wires