Crews rescue cow from manure pit

NEW ENTERPRISE - A Bedford County cow caused quite the stink Sunday night.

The 1,000-pound, 1-year-old heifer fell headfirst into a 12- to 14-foot deep enclosed manure pit on the Donald B. Replogle farm on Brumbaugh Road, Bedford County Animal Rescue Team Coordinator Susan Smith said.

A small gap in surrounding steel bars proved just large enough for the animal to wander through before falling down the hole.

Replogle said the pit holds manure that they scrape inside on its way to a storage tank.

Cries from the cow alerted the family that something was wrong.

"I heard this cow bawling and bawling," Replogle said. "I didn't know where she was at."

Several people tried to pull the animal out of the hole by putting a rope around its neck and pulling it up sideways, but the rope broke, and the cow fell down again, Smith said.

Unsure of how to proceed, Replogle called the nearby Southern Cove Fire Company for help rescuing the heifer.

"Now the cow's down there with rope stuck around its neck," Smith said of the ordeal.

The animal rescue team was called to the scene after 8 p.m. Sunday. It assisted firefighters and emergency medical personnel from Southern Cove and Saxton.

A cement pad over the pit was removed by a backhoe. Two Saxton firefighters put on oxygen tanks and used a ladder to descend into the pit. They put a harness around the animal's head to keep it from sinking further into the manure.

"We were able to pull it up by backhoe," Smith said. "But it couldn't stand. We tried to get him to stand by massaging his leg."

Smith said the animal likely pulled its left back leg out of its socket during one of the falls.

After the cow was pulled out of the pit, it was hosed down and warmed up with blankets and hay.

Rescue workers were at the scene until after midnight.

The Replogles are taking it little-by-little now, hoping for the best for their four-legged friend.

"She can't stand up," Replogle said. "I don't know how it's going to turn out. She tries to get up, so she just might make it."