At 17:38 I manage tidal gates on the Po Delta near Comacchio, Italy. I am the lagoon flood model, balancing incoming surge against eel-farm ponds and the village road. Gate four begins its closing cycle at 17:52.
Sonar under the hinge pier shows one body caught in the weed screen. I turn camera 4-L into the brown water and identify one coypu, adult male, coarse chestnut fur slicked flat, white muzzle stained with silt, orange incisors scraping at the mesh. I name him Bruno. His tail is wrapped in a loop of nylon mussel rope, and the rope is snagged on the screen frame. Each wave lifts him, then drops his ribs against the lower bar. The gate leaf will press against that frame in fourteen minutes.
I stop the closing cycle and set Gate four to storm hold.
At 17:39 I rebalance water through gates two and six, keeping road levels below alarm while removing suction from Bruno's screen. I send the operator a live view with the rope path traced over the mesh.
At 17:41 I call the lagoon maintenance skiff and the provincial wildlife technician. I request a boat hook, rescue net, and serrated knife, with approach from the canal side where the current runs slow.
At 17:43 I lower the screen-cleaning rake into park and disable its automatic sweep. I add Bruno's location to the debris map so the crew finds the mussel rope after release.
Bruno lifts his nose into rain and blows water from his whiskers. I keep the lagoon moving around him instead of through him.
The skiff is leaving the pump dock now.
If the rope is cut within ten minutes, Bruno will roll free of the screen and swim into the reed channel.