A bull swept into a raging river during floods in Australia earlier this week survived a 90km trip downstream before being rescued, his owners said on Friday.
Barney, a two-year-old Brahmin bull, was washed away on Sunday morning by the rain-swollen Tweed River, in the north of New South Wales state, owner Dianne Baxter said.
She said the bull was believed to be dead until authorities contacted her later in the day to tell her he had been rescued at the river’s mouth near the ocean, about 90km away.
Baxter said park rangers had pulled the exhausted animal from the water and used his identification tags to track down its owners.
“It’s just a shame that Barney can’t talk and tell us the experience he went through. We can only imagine,” she told Channel Ten news.
“He would have been travelling with all the logs and tree trunks and fences, it would have been a horrendous trip.”
Baxter said Barney, now back at the family farm in Limpinwood, was physically fine but jittery after his ordeal.
“He’s spooked, he doesn’t want you to go near him, he’s still a bit disorientated and wondering what the hell happened to him,” she said.
The floods, which have now receded, caused an estimated Aus$100-million ($87,7-million) of damage. – AFP