Cows swept away by Hurricane Dorian found alive in North Carolina

Authored by bbc.com and submitted by Miskatonica
image for Cows swept away by Hurricane Dorian found alive in North Carolina

Image copyright Rhonda Hunter Photography Image caption Cows are seen on the beach on Cedar Island in July 2017

Three cows swept off an island in North Carolina during Hurricane Dorian have been found alive after apparently swimming for several miles.

The cows belong to a herd on the US state's Cedar Island but were swept away in September by a "mini tsunami" generated by Dorian.

They were presumed dead until they were spotted at the Cape Lookout National Seashore park on the Outer Banks.

Plans are now under way to send them back home.

Park officials say they believe the three stranded cows swam up to five miles (8km) to make it to the Outer Banks barrier islands.

Spokesman BG Horvat told the McClatchy news group that park staff spotted the first cow on the North Core barrier island about a month after the storm, while the two others were discovered in the past two weeks.

Mr Horvat said the animals were lucky not to have drifted into the Atlantic, which happened to some wild horses.

They "certainly have a gripping story to share", he added.

Hurricane Dorian made landfall on North Carolina's Outer Banks in early September as a Category One storm, lashing the state with heavy rains, winds and flooding.

It travelled there from the Bahamas, where dozens of people were killed.

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elfratar on July 31st, 2020 at 04:32 UTC »

Mr. Horvat said that park employees found the first cow on Sept. 7, a day after the hurricane. Two more cows, both yearlings, were found three weeks later. The cows appear to have a bond, he said.

“Ever since they found each other, they have been hanging out together,” he said. “They are just grazing on the North Core Island.”

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soggydave2113 on July 31st, 2020 at 02:44 UTC »

Growing up, we raised goats and the occasional cow. The pastures that we kept them in were lined on 3 sides by a fence and the 4th side was a big pond. For the goats, this didn’t really cause any issue, because they hated water, but every now and then, we’d wake up to see the cow in the pasture on the other side of the pond because it swam across. It was easily 100 yards to the other side. Those things were weirdly great at swimming, so I can totally see this happening.

Thedrunner2 on July 31st, 2020 at 01:55 UTC »

They then biked 10 miles and ran 5 miles to complete the Cape Lookout inaugural triathlon. They gave each other high hooves as they finished. Rumor has it they opened a lucrative animal cross fit training facility on their new home.