First responders in rural Gilgandra, Australia received a strange request on the evening of April 3: rescue a cow that had become trapped in a belowground pool.
Despite her circumstances, the 660-pound bovine took the arrival of the New South Wales State Emergency Service (SES) in stride, Geoff Kiehne, the commander of the agency's Gilgandra unit, told 9 News, describing her as "quite happy and very content."
"It was a very unusual event," he said. "I've never had a cow in a pool before."
In a pair of photos posted to the SES's Facebook page, the cow, a "healthy" brown female, can be seen standing neck-deep in the shallow end. Commenters seized the opportunity to make dairy puns.
"Well cow about that. That's dairy interesting, she must have wanted to get mooving into shape. Great job getting her to an udder place," one user wrote.
"Nothing to see here....cow has been moooooooved on," joked another.
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But many, addressing the elephant (or, rather, the cow) in the room, demanded to know how she had ended up there in the first place.
"So many questions...please do a follow-up," said one commenter.
"Was there no pool fence??" asked another.
While Kiehne didn't provide specifics, he said that he believes the cow was likely spooked by something and ran for cover.
"We suspect something startled her and she ran through a panel straight into the water," he said.
Once they had assessed the situation, Kiehne and two accompanying SES large-animal rescue specialists devised a plan of attack. It hinged on working with the cow rather than against her.
"Because the cow was quite relaxed and appeared very good-natured, we thought we could coax her to walk up the steps of the pool," he said. "We didn't want to distress her because it's much easier working with a cow that's cooperative than one that's not being cooperative."
Their first three attempts failed, but the fourth succeeded. With the cow back on terra firma, Kiehne was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
"We were very happy with how the rescue went," he said, adding that the responders were fortunate that they didn't have to call a crane.
