By Casey Neill
A Good Samaritan saved a Yarra Glen cow who was having a hard time moo-ving to dry land.
Julie Nixon and her husband Jon are keen to say a big thank-you to Damien from Coldstream who turned up at their place on Monday 18 February.
“It was about 8.30pm I guess. I was putting our chooks away,” she said.
“A car drove into our driveway.
“Our property is at the very end of a dead-end road and it’s bordered by the Yarra River.”
Damien told them he’d been walking his dog at the reserve across the river from their bottom paddock and saw a cow in the water.
“He’s driven himself from the reserve all the way around to our property, which is a good 15-minute drive. He’s come out of his way,” she said.
It was starting to get dark but the Nixons went to investigate, and found a break in the fence near a steep section of the river bank.
“My husband gave me all his clothes, his glasses and everything, and swam up the river to the right,” Julie said.
“Then he spotted it in the river.
“When he first approached it, it was still quite feisty.
“The steer was just tired. It had probably been in there all day.
“It tried to get out but its back legs were still in the mud.”
She drove the car down and shone the headlights onto the scene.
John was trying to encourage the 600 kilogram steer out to safety, hitting its rump.
Julie called neighbours Syd, Lisa and Amber Saunders and Dick Treneman for backup.
“They were about to get into bed,” she said.
“They grabbed our tractor. We had a thick rope in our shed. They found that and headed down and found us.
“The three boys got behind this steer and it took three hours to get it out.
“They put the rope around its rump.”
Its legs were stuck in the mud so they were worried about causing injury and had to move carefully.
“We persevered and we finally got him up, but then he was out of the water but plonked on the edge of the river,” she said.
“We thought he could topple back in.
“We put the rope around him again and were about to encourage him up, but he stood up by himself and we walked him back along the fence.”
The Nixons are grateful to Damien and want to pass on their thanks.
“He could have seen him and just left him,” she said.
“It could have been there for a couple of days. We’re very lucky he’s ok.
“It restores your faith in human kindness.”
