The crew of Kinsale RNLI built up an appetite recently after a rescue with a difference

THE crew of Kinsale RNLI built up an appetite recently, after a rescue with a difference, when eight cows were trapped in the sea near Nohoval. 

Luckily for the cows, all in calf, the volunteer crew made up of Mark Lewis, Ian Fitzgerald and Jim Grennan successfully managed to bring them ashore after a few hours, and the volunteer crew then headed off to McDonalds to celebrate the rescue.

‘Nobody knows how the cows got into the water and the alarm was raised after a passer-by alerted the coastguard when several people were spotted at the head,’ said Tricia Tyson, press officer with Kinsale RNLI. 

‘It was only when the RNLI crew arrived at the scene that they realised that there were eight cows in the water,’ she explained.

Mark Lewis, one of the volunteer crew, went into the water when they realised the Coastguard did not have the right equipment to rescue the cows.

‘The cows were in difficulty all right and they were frightened and were sliding up and down the rocks,’ said Mark. ‘They may have burst a fence and then slid into the water. I got the lads to throw me a rope and I towed one of the cows to the nearby beach but the cow was exhausted by the time we were finished so I knew we had to come up with another plan,’ Mark told The Southern Star.

With big swells in the water, the crew decided that the only way to get the bovines out of the water was to push them up on the rocks while the other two members put ropes around them to pull them onto the mainland.

‘I had to go into a cave for one of them with a rope between my teeth, after it got stuck in there, and once I had the rope around his neck the others pulled him out. They were all a bit scratched from their ordeal but were healthy otherwise,’ added Mark.

The incalf heifers belong to the Jagoe family and Alan Jagoe said that the volunteer crew were outstanding in rescuing the eight heifers.

‘We were there on the rocks but we couldn’t get at them but the lads were able to and we’re very grateful to them. We scanned them all and they are all ok and still incalf,’ said Alan speaking to The Southern Star.

The rescue by Kinsale RNLI was captured on video by Mark who had a camera attached to his helmet. It can be viewed on the Kinsale RNLI page on Facebook.

After posting the video, commentators took the invitation from the group to post their favourite cow puns. 

‘The crew were udderly amazed when they were called to rescue 8 cows last week. It really was a most moooooooving experience but they have been warned not to milk it,’ said the page’s administrator.

 ‘Bet it was Fresian!’ said Trevor Drew in reply, adding: ‘good job they had a spare RIB.’

‘Herd it all before,’ said Phil Devitt, while Jerry Finnegan noted it wasn’t a ‘black and white situation’.

‘I’m sure the cream came to the top in this oxident,’ joked Lorcan Keyes, while David O’Connell remarked it would make a great ‘moovie’.