Firefighters, Police Help Care for Cattle Across the Country
First responders are a lot like farmers and ranchers, they work long hours in stressful jobs. Sometimes the jobs of firefighters and police cross into the agriculture realm when on-duty officers respond to calls involving cattle. There have been a few cases that have popped up recently on social media that found police officers and firefighters helping care for cattle that caught our attention.
A team of firefighters from Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue in Tigard, Oregon, was driving back from a recent dill when the crews noticed a cow in distress. A farmer was attending to the cow as she was struggling to deliver a calf before the team jumped the fence and offered a hand.
The crews from Stations 68 and 55 were able to help the farmer pull the calf safely in about 15-20 minutes before heading back to their stations. The cow and calf were reportedly in good condition while waiting for a veterinarian to stop in for a checkup.
Firefighters in Clyde, Texas, were also busy helping rescue a calf on April 24 that got stuck in a well that was 15 feet deep.
In Sebastopol, California, the local police department helped put a couple of cattle back to their home pasture on May 1 after the heifers were found early in the morning near a Safeway grocery store.
The Sebastopol Police Services left a pun filled response in a Facebook video to help describe the situation.
“Imagine the udder surprise of our officers when they were dispatched to a report of rogue bovine on Healdsburg Avenue near Safeway this morning. Officers arrived to find the two cows had completed their shopping and were mooooving back in the direction of home. Our officers escorted the wandering herd safely back to their field. It was quite the cattle-yst for an eventful morning,” the post says.
These stories also are a reminder of a kindness of a Nebraska State Patrol trooper who rescued a calf that was stuck in a snow bank following a blizzard in March:
These aren’t the only cases where first responders helped come to the rescue of cattle. Here are few other stories where firefighters and police lent a helping hand to cattle:
