The cow was sedated before being strapped into a hoist and lifting her out using a forklift truckA dozy cow sparked a huge rescue operation today when she strayed into a swimming pool and had to be hoisted out by a forklift truck.
The creature managed to break into a neighbouring garden from her field in the village of Motcombe, Dorset, and plunged hoof-first into the 4ft deep pool.
The placid animal spent the night stranded in the cold water before her farmer owner spotted her this morning.
Rescue workers try and help a cow who accidentally fell into a swimming pool after escaping from a nearby fieldMore than 30 firemen dashed to the scene to find the stricken cow wading around in the shallow end of the pool.
They sedated her before strapping her into a hoist and lifting her out using a forklift truck during the 30 minute rescue.
The black Friesian cow was then released back into her field, apparently unharmed and undaunted by her underwater experience.
David Wilson, crew manager of the special rescue team at Poole fire station, said: 'We were called out to rescue a cow which had fallen into the swimming pool in the garden of a large detached house.
Rescue workers can't hide their smiles as the creature is hoisted high in the air
All done: The cow is calmed down after her scary ordeal'We don't know how she got in there, but she may have squeezed through a gap in the fence and wandered in. There was a fence around the pool, but the gate was left open.
'We don't know exactly how long she'd been in there, but she fell in overnight and seemed to be waiting patiently ever since.
'She was just standing patiently in the shallow end looking bemused. She wasn't at all distressed until we started trying to rescue her.
'The local vet was on the scene and managed to sedate her enough so we could get a harness around her underside.
'This was attached to a forklift truck and we lifted the cow out safely.
'We let her rest for a while and then shepherded her back into her own field.'
Two fire crews from Shaftesbury and special rescue crews from Poole and Weymouth attended the rescue which started at 9.30am and was finished by 11.45am.
The owners of the cottage property were not in at the time of the incident.
source :dailymail
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