Cow rescued by lifeboat after falling off cliff

A lifeboat crew in Ireland were called out to perform one of their more unusual rescues when a cow plummeted 20ft off a cliff and became stranded in the water. The Dunmore East RNLI was called out by the Irish Coast Guard on Saturday afternoon reporting that three people in a boat were in difficulty close to rocks under Creadan Head in the Waterford Estuary.



The volunteer crew immediately launched their all-weather lifeboat that arrived on the scene within five minutes. However when they arrived they discovered that the boat was not in danger and that the three people were trying to rescue a cow which had fallen from the cliff and became stranded. They had never heard of anything like this before. Neville Murphy, of Dunmore East RNLI, told how they initially thought they were on a serious mission.

“When we got the initial call we thought it was serious and that there were three people in serious danger but it transpired that they were just trying to rescue the cow. Our job is to ultimately save lives and they don’t necessarily need to be human lives.” He explained that the cow fell from the top of a cliff and became trapped in the water below. “She fell from about 20ft and was stuck in rocks in about three feet of water," he continued.



"We made up a bridle with the rope and tied it around the cow. We were very conscious of the distress to the animal and we brought her up. She was lucky and was uninjured. She was certainly happy to be back on greener pastures." Commenting after the ordeal, Dunmore East RNLI Deputy Coxswain Ray Power added: "As a lifeboat crew we never know what we might be facing each time we are called, but in this case thankfully the actual call was not as serious as we first thought, but we were glad we could help all the same and bring the cow to safety.”