Cow trapped in mud was on ‘brink of collapse’ — then rescuers step in, CA photos show
A cow was trapped in mud for possibly an entire day after a mudslide in southern California, and the animal was so exhausted it couldn’t stand up on its own, rescuers said.
It took five hours of “digging, prying, rolling, and using wood planks for leverage” for Santa Barbara County firefighters to free the cow from the deep mud, a spokesperson for the fire department said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Photos show the “extensive” effort to pry the Swiss alp cow from the mud, Scott Safechuck said in the post. Firefighters went to work freeing the cow just before 4:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, and it was well after dark by the time it was over.
Crews of firefighters and county animal control officers drove into the canyon on an ATV, then hiked down and across to get to the cow, Safechuck said.
Photos show the mud-caked cow in the mud. Its legs appear to be buried as firefighters dig it out with shovels.
“Firefighters reported the cow appeared severely exhausted, on the brink of collapse, after potentially being trapped for up to a day due to a minor mudslide. Once freed, the cow was so exhausted that it was covered with a (blanket) to stay warm at rest,” Safechuck said, adding that the ranchers kept an eye on the cow after the rescue.
This sort of situation has happened to at least one other person before. Someone replied they had “been there” and shared a photo of a black cow stuck in slippery deep mud as two people stand over it on a wooden plank. One person holds a shovel, the photo shows.
This story was originally published February 13, 2024 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Cow trapped in mud was on ‘brink of collapse’ — then rescuers step in, CA photos show."
