CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. - Firefighters in Cherokee County are being credited with saving a horse that lost its footing in an extremely muddy pasture and couldn’t get back up on Thursday morning.
The Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services Large Animal Rescue Team responded around 11 a.m. to the WarAngel Farms located at 1051 Ficklen Church Way. The crew found a large draft horse on its side and unable to get up.
"The horse was in a temporary holding pasture. Due to the heavy rain in the area, the pasture was really muddy and slippery and sometime during the night, the horse casted, which means the horse gets stuck on its back or side and can’t get its feet under it to stand up again," said Darrell Mitchell, Special Operations Chief for the Fire Department. "The Large Animal Rescue Team and Veterinarian, Dr. Ashley Davenport, got on scene and began to put a couple of straps around the horse to drag him back to the top to a flat area. "
"The team put two additional straps around the horse so they could pull him off his side and rolled the horse onto his belly. The team allowed the horse to rest for a few minutes and eventually pulled him up so he could stand on his own," Mitchell said. "These guys are good at what they do. They devised a plan and had the right equipment in order to get the horse back on its feet."
The Large Animal Rescue Team, which focuses on ropes and rigging skills that may be applied in case of large-animal emergencies, is just one of the many teams that make up the Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services. The department also has a Hazardous Materials Team, Dive Team and the Rope and Rescue Team.
WATCH: FOX 5 NEWS LIVE COVERAGE
This browser does not support the Video element.
_____