So far, the animal stories that have been coming out of the recent floods have been very, extremely, deeply depressing (seriously, don’t click on any of those links if you feel that maybe having a spontaneous cry might ruin your night), it’s about bloody time we had ourselves an inspirational tale of animal survival, and it’s finally here.
Meet Debbie the cow.
Debbie is a six months pregnant Brangus (lol) cow who managed to make an intrepid 70km swim through floodwaters from near Lismore to Pimlico in northern NSW. She is also my hero.
Debbie was spotted by property owner John Stead and his wife when she emerged from the swollen Richmond River as they were watching floodwaters go past:
“Next thing this black hulk emerged from the riverbank and up onto the road, and then we realised it was a cow.“We do have a jetty and angled ramp where she could scramble and get a foothold, so that’s how she scrambled up here.”
She had been in the water for three days. Stead and his wife decided to name her Debbie after both the weather and what they’d been looking at for the last few days:
“We called her Debbie because of Debbie the cyclone, and because of all the debris floating down the river.”
With the help of a neighbour, they put together a temporary paddock for Debbie and tried to track down her owner. Debbie’s electronic tag wasn’t working, but livestock carrier Wayne Bruggy recognised her ear tag from a distant property:
“I thought no, it could not be from there, no way. But turns out it was.“I went and had a look at the cow, identified the tag, made a few phone calls, and the person who I thought was missing cattle was.”
It turned out Debbie belonged to Tony Ivey, who had a property at Gundurimba, and had lost 30 cattle in the floodwaters:
“Unbelievable. That is a long time in the water, days and days. It’s just unreal.“I love my cattle and spend a lot of time with them. I said to my wife I feel like I’m in the boxing ring with my hands tied behind my back. It’s been pretty traumatic.”
Bruggy reckoned she’d just been confused about the town:
“She came from Riverbank Road, Gundurimba, and ended up at Riverbank Road, Pimlico.“Just the wrong postcode really, pretty uncanny.”
God bless you, Debbie the cow.
Source: ABC.
Photo: John Stead.
