An adventurous calf took its exploring to new depths and found itself stuck in a 4.3 metre hole on Sunday afternoon. A Parkes farmer called for help to rescue the animal that saw several volunteers from the Parkes SES Unit respond and happy to put their recently acquired large animal rescue skills to good use. One of the volunteers didn’t even have time to wash his uniform after returning home just a few hours earlier from a week assisting with flood rescues and resupply efforts in flood affected Wee Waa and Narrabri. An expert excavator operator was called-in and used plenty of finesse to carefully widen the hole to make it, and the trapped calf, more accessible. With some skilled manoeuvring and a bit of creative problem-solving, the team was able to safely attach a strap around the 200kg animal. They successfully lifted the not-so-little Hereford to safety, and when its feet hit the ground it was thankfully able to walk free, the Parkes unit said. "Fortunately the junior spelunker appears none the worse for its adventure," they shared on social media. Unit Commander Jeff Field described the rescue as “altogether a neat little operation”.
