Holy cow! This stuck heifer required heavy machinery to free it from cattle guard

Originally Published: 26 MAR 26 14:15 ET

By Spencer Burt

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    GRAND COUNTY, Utah (KSTU) -- It just couldn't moooooo-ve.

Multiple police agencies and local volunteers stepped up Wednesday to save a cow whose lack of fear got the best of it.

The animal stepped into a cattle guard and got stuck, according to the Grand County Sheriff's Office. Cattle guards are metal grates that act as a barrier when a road goes through a fence on open range land. Cows and other hoofed animals tend to avoid the guards because the spaces between the bars are just wide enough for their hoof or foot to get stuck, while small enough to allow cars and trucks to drive over them.

However, the cow in question ignored that and apparently stepped on the grate with reckless abandon, falling in.

Sheriff's deputies worked with Utah Highway Patrol and the Bureau of Land Management to rescue the stuck cow. Some ranchers even volunteered to help.

The crew took an excavator and attached a heavy-duty chain to its bucket. That chain was then connected to some towing straps and a long piece of cloth, which they roped around the animal to lift it out.

"Situations like this don’t always have a positive outcome, so we’re grateful this one ended well," the sheriff's office wrote in a social media post.

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