By Jed Lanyon
Pregnant cow Milkshake was freed from a Healesville creek twice in one day.
Several Yarra Ranges Council safety officers made their way down to the creek at 9.45am on Wednesday 20 February to try to free Milkshake.
The council officers were unable to guide the 800 kilograms behemoth after entering the water and securing her with a rope.
It’s believed that Milkshake was too tired and her muscles had seized after being exposed to the cold waters over a prolonged period.
After an hour and a half, the council officers and the cow’s owners brought a council ranger vehicle close enough to the creek to attach a harness to Milkshake and finally bring her to safety.
Nathan Shaw, one of the council safety officers involved, said the rescued cow was visibly shaking.
“It appeared that water was just below head level so our main priority was to get out there straight away,” he said.
“It took three attempts but we finally got her up on the bank.”
Milkshake had been freed, but the job was far from over as council staff received another phone call in the afternoon.
“About 2.45pm we got another phone call, and lo and behold it was the same cow stuck again in deeper waters,” Mr Shaw said.
Milkshake clearly didn’t learn a lesson from her first encounter with the creek.
“We saw some evidence that made it appear that the cow had slipped from the embankment,” he said.
Mr Shaw suggested that another cow, Cookies and Cream, could have accidentally nudged Milkshake and caused her to lose her footing.
“We made about another four attempts but every time we tried to pull her out the harness would slip under and it started to tip her, so we didn’t want that,” he said.
“The cow appeared to have given up at certain stages.”
The harness secured around Milkshake snapped, causing the cow to slip into the water and hinder the rescue efforts.
Finally, at 6.30pm, she’d had enough and with a little push decided to walk herself out of the creek.
Milkshake was unable to put weight on one of her back legs, but received a welcome lick from a distressed Cookies and Cream, who was waiting patiently for her rescue.
The cow’s owners took her far away from the creek to ensure her safety.
