Cattle rescued in Sedgwick County
COLWICH, Kansas – Rapidly rising water led to a dramatic animal rescue Monday morning in Colwich where cowboys had to trade their horses for boats to bring a group of cattle to dry land.
Young calves were amongst the cattle stranded after the Cowskin Creek spilled from its banks and flooded their field. It took a boat and a jet ski to get the animals to safety.
A group of Longhorn cattle and calves huddled together on a patch of high ground after the field they were grazing in rapidly flooded with water from the creek.
“Dad called me in the morning and said, ‘we need help,’ so here we are,” said rescuer Chad Hommertzheim.
“They were caught off guard,” said Chief Brad Banz with the Colwich Fire Department. “It came up so rapidly the risk of water was so rapid by the time anybody knew it there was no way of getting them out of there ahead of time.”
Three cowboys on horseback arrived on the scene to help, but their horses and roping skills were nearly useless in the high water. Firefighters needed to use a boat and a jet ski to force the cattle to swim on dry land.
“It was a little too deep to get them out of there, so we knew the only way to get them out of there was by boat or jet skim, so that's what we did,” said Hommertzheim.
One of the calves was too small to swim, so rescue workers had to use a jet ski to pick him up and give him a ride to shore.
“The high water -- the calves were more in danger because of there smaller size they were having to swim and struggle in the water,” said Banz said.
“A little different kind of cattle drive,” Hommertzheim said.
None of the cattle were lost to the flood. A vet will be checking in on the calves to make sure they don’t catch pneumonia.
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