Video shows rescuers struggling to save farm animals buried in mud after California storm

With ropes, animal sleds and a whole lot of patience, rescue teams in San Bernardino County successfully pulled 17 large farm animals out of a thick, sticky mud trap on a farm in the unincorporated area of Muscoy on Wednesday afternoon.

The sounds of agitated mooing could be heard over the voices of more than a dozen rescue workers as they struggled together to heave a black cow out of the mud in a video of the rescue posted to Twitter by the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District.

After rescuing the first six animals, the crews had to set up a skid steer to clear a path to access the additional 11 animals before they were able to dig them out and rescue them as well.

It took five hours for rescuers to free all the animals, including cows, bulls and horses, that had become stuck in deep mud after several days of rain.

By Wednesday evening, all the stuck animals had been successfully evacuated from the rain-soaked property.

Once the animals had been pulled out of the mud, the rescue team loaded them onto an animal transport trailer. They were then taken to the Devore Animal Shelter in San Bernardino for evaluation by a veterinarian.

The rescue team was composed of members of San Bernardino County Animal Care, the San Bernardino County Fire Department’s large animal rescue team, the Urban Search & Rescue team, and heavy equipment units, said Battalion Chief Mike McClintock of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.