Cow rescued from frozen Hartlepool water by 999 services and public

Members of the public came across a cow that was trapped in some ice at North Gare, in Seaton Carew, on Friday, January 10.

Sue Stubbs, who watched the rescue, said: “There were a few people who stood and when I looked over, they were watching a cow that was obviously stuck in the ice.

"Not long after this, a police car turned up, and for the next approximately two hours, they tried coaxing it to help it out.

"It managed to move a couple of times but was right in the middle.

"From what I could see, they got some sort of a pole and tied a piece of green luminous tape around the end.

"They managed to put it around the cow’s neck and with help from members of the public, slowly pulled it out.”

A spokesperson for Cleveland Fire Brigade said: “Cleveland Fire Brigade were called at 15.17 to an incident at North Gare, in Tees Road, Seaton Carew, Hartlepool.

“One fire engine was in attendance from Billingham.

"This was an animal rescue operation involving one trapped cow in iced-over water.

“The crew assisted in moving the cow to dry land and made sure it was okay once out of the water and didn’t go back in.

“The crew had left the scene by 16.14.”

Sue added: “The poor cow was exhausted, and all the time this was going on, its calf was running around mooing. Poor thing.”

Sue was later contacted by a police officer who said both cow and calf were safe and back in the barn.