Rescue drama as stranded horse is saved from death in a Tyrone ditch
is the dramatic moment when a rescue team saved a stricken horse from almost certain death after it became trapped in a water-filled ditch.
A 10-strong crew from the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service’s (NIFRS) large animal rescue team based in Omagh were called to a farm on the Drumduff Road near Sixmilecross yesterday morning after a horse was reported to have fallen into the deep sheugh.
In a series of pictures posted on its social media page, the NIFRS documented the operation to rescue the terrified horse.
It took around two hours to bring the animal to safety, a spokesman told the Belfast Telegraph last night.
“All went well,” the spokesman said. “The horse is fine.
“We were able to remove him from the ditch using manual handling techniques, and we also had the assistance of a telehandler which was supplied by the farmer.”
The Fire & Rescue Service has two specialist large animal rescue teams — one based in Omagh, Co Tyrone the other in Newcastle, Co Down.
Both teams are very busy, according to the NIFRS spokesman, with the bulk of their rescue missions involving animals trapped in slurry tanks, or havmals
ing fallen into rivers or watercourses.
The specialist teams were established in 2006, and the NIFRS has worked with Greenmount Agricultural College and the USPCA to provide extensive training in animal rescue techniques as well as safe handling of animals. The rescue team is particularly alert to the risk of diseases spreading from aniTHIS
to humans or from farm to farm. Team members use personal protection equipment and disinfect equipment and appliances before entering and before leaving a farm.
In July this year the team rescued 72 pigs from a slurry pit on a farm in Aghalee, Co Antrim — the biggest single animal rescue incident they have had to handle so far.