What goes down must come up … but in the case of cows in a creek only with the hours-long struggle of several very patient firefighters
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Testing the waters: Fire brigade carries out daring cow rescue in Pollinkhove
Lisa Bradshaw
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In Pollinkhove, a district of Lo-Reninge – neither of which you have ever heard of – the fire brigade had to be called out to save a herd of cows who had plodded down an embankment into a wide creek and couldn’t get out again.
On Thursday the sun was bright in this West Flemish village, and the 18 cows must have thought that water looked pretty refreshing. But once in, they struggled to get out.
“They had trouble reaching dry land because the banks are rather steep,” explained Kristof Louagie of the Westhoek Fire Department. “We used an excavator to dig out a piece of the bank and make it less steep so they could get out.”
The cows didn’t immediately play along, however, and it took several hours to get all 18 to solid ground. The fire brigade is familiar with this sort of thing in Pollinkhove: Last year they were called out to save five cows who were stuck in a swimming pond in the village. Must be something in the water.