March 19--For Miami-Dade Fire Rescue workers it was an unusual call: A pregnant cow was stuck in a drainage ditch in Homestead and needed help.
The Sunday drama began when Miguel Hernandez found his cow stuck in five-feet deep of mud at Southwest 283 Street near Texas Avenue; he called Miami-Dade firefighters.
Veterinarian Zachary Franklin also rushed to the scene where the "Jersey cow," a small breed of dairy cattle common in Homestead farms, was trapped.
"I don't know how the cow got into the canal," Franklin said. "The owner went looking for his cow -- she is due to have a calf in two or three days -- and he couldn't find her. There was no way for her to climb out. She needed help."
Pregnant cows in need of rescue are a rare occurrence, said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Capt. Jeffrey L. Fobb.
"This is the first cow that we've had in years and it took a team to get her out," Fobb said. "It takes cooperation from a bunch of different parts of the fire department."
First, a firefighter jumped into the ditch and gave the cow fresh cut green grass to try to persuade her to move up. Then firefighters attached a special harness on the animal and a crane to lift up the 900 pound cow out of the ditch. The mud was so thick, one of the firefighters had trouble getting out, Franklin said.
After pulled to safety, the cow hardly batted an eye.
"She lay down and stood right up," Franklin said. "She was bright and alert and went right back to eating."
Sunday's was a successful rescue, but some can go tragically wrong.
University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine Director John Haven specializes in training fire departments across the state to stage such rescues.
"People could risk their own lives and get hurt in the process," Haven said. "Without the proper harness, they can try to use a cowboy rope around the animal's neck and can strangle them."
Haven said sometimes when the animals are excited and become a threat to rescuers, a veterinarian needs to sedate it. But there have been cases when animals have been sedated and they have drowned.
"Part of what we try to do is train the firefighters on how not to get hurt and on how not to hurt the animals," Haven said. "It's an important mission because without them, the animals would probably get shot or just be left to die."
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