Horse uninjured after being rescued from mud in Saanich
Firefighters in Saanich were called in to rescue a horse stuck in deep mud Saturday morning.
Video shared on Twitter by Saanich Fire Department Assistant Deputy Chief Robert Heppell shows roughly a dozen people - most of them wearing fire department uniforms - hauling the animal onto solid ground.
In a phone interview, Heppell told CTV News Vancouver Island that the call came in around 10 a.m. from the horse's owner, who said the animal had wandered into a swampy area in northwest Saanich, near Camosun College's Interurban campus.
Crews fashioned slings out of fire hoses and climbed into the mud with the horse to get the slings underneath the animal, Heppell said, noting that they had to be "very cautious."
Images of the horse in Heppell's tweet show the horse submerged up to its neck in the muddy water, which he described as a bog.
With help from neighbours and the horse's owner, firefighters managed to rescue the horse in just under an hour, Heppell said.
He praised the firefighters from the department's B Platoon for their "outstanding teamwork and ingenuity."
The horse, named Gecko, spent a few minutes lying on its side after the rescue, but it eventually stood up, Heppell said.
"As you can imagine, he was quite exhausted," Heppell said, adding that Gecko had not sustained any injuries during the ordeal.
Saturday's incident is the second time this month that fire crews on the Saanich Peninsula have been called in to rescue a horse from mud.
On July 13, Central Saanich firefighters helped rescue a horse that had fallen into a ditch on the Willow Way trail.
In that incident, crews dug a slope on the side of the trail to allow the animal to climb out. They also attached straps to the horse's backside to help lift it out of the mud.
Heppell said horse rescues happen from time to time in Saanich, but they're not common.
"It's not something we train for," he said. "Our crews did a great job."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.