Large animal rescue training pays off in Boone County horse rescue
Mitchell Kaminski
BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Two horses rescued from a muddy lagoon near Harrisburg on Wednesday night are recovering after being treated by veterinarians.
A friend of the horses’ owners said the animals were at the vet until about 3 a.m. to ensure they made it through the night. They are being treated with antibiotics to clear up any potential infections after getting stuck in a lagoon that was being drained.
The Boone County Fire Protection District responded to the 8400 block of Gray Road around 7:17 p.m. after the owners discovered the horses trapped in mud earlier in the day.
“This stuff here was like soup, so it was very, very sloppy,” Boone County Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Clint Walker said. “We got dispatched at 7:17, arrived shortly after, and found two horses buried in mud up over their back, the only thing sticking out was their heads.”
Eighteen firefighters responded to the scene, with about half trained in large animal rescue through an optional 40-hour course offered by the department. Rescuing two animals at once added to the challenge.
“The multiple animals and being trapped at the same time, that added a different layer of complexity,” Lt. Joey Rimel said. “More often than not for the large animals, it’s often they’re stuck in mud or high water or ice or something like that. So that’s kind of our bread and butter rescue and that we deal with.”
Assistant Chief Norm Hinkle said large animal rescues fluctuate throughout the year, but tend to increase when weather conditions change.
“It definitely does fluctuate. We get at least a couple a year, it seems like; especially when the weather changes things like this, when it’s starting to thaw out,” he said. “We have those issues with the ice we had a couple of weeks ago, the cattle that fell through the ice.”
So far this year, the district has responded to three large animal incidents, two involving cattle and Wednesday night’s rescue involving the horses.
“There’s always some complexity to it when you’re dealing with agricultural and farm animals as far as getting to them, accessibility, you know, the mud, the muck, getting through fences, cows and horses get into places. Sometimes it’s hard for us to get into, especially access or with equipment and that type of thing,” Hinkle said.
The department offers a 40-hour large animal rescue course to its members each year.
“That course is something we’ve been doing for quite a long time, and it’s a bridge course that brings in fire personnel and it’s mainly the optional pieces for our members. Specifically, they have the option to sign up. We usually get ten or 15 a year that go to that class, which is pretty good. But then we fill the other half of that with the veterinarian school,” Rimel said.
Hinkle told ABC 17 News that only rescuers who have completed the large animal rescue course are allowed to make contact with the animals because they are trained to respond appropriately and properly apply straps and harnesses. Other responders without the specialized training assist with what Hinkle described as “mostly muscle,” using the basic rope techniques they received during standard firefighter training.
The district partners with the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine for large animal rescues. Veterinarians were on scene Wednesday night to sedate the horses before crews pulled them from the mud.