We received a report around 12 o’clock about a bison who was drowning in Ostrowiec lake in Drawa National Park. We immediately took action. When we arrived, we found 60 people and 12 brigades of firefighters. All of this was coordinated by Drawa National Park director – Mr. Paweł Bilski. Rescue wasn’t easy because the young cow was stuck in an ice hole, about 150 meter from the shore of the lake. Because of the steep terrain, it was impossible to move rescue service vehicles.
Firefighters used a rescue tool to break the ice on the lake and took a boat to swim to the tired animal. Next, they put on a cow rescue rope and moved her to the shore of the lake. During the next hour, Western Pomeranian Nature Society workers tried to heat the animal using a thermal blanket, and administered her oxygen. All of this effort allowed us to bring back the bison to normal organism function. In the meantime, we put on a GPS collar on the cow, so we can track her on Bison Safe Information Map (http:/).
Fortunately for our young cow this was a happy ending. It demonstrated to us that sometimes happy endings can happen. So next time, we plan to expand our action throughout the project border and making some workshops for other voivodships.
We would like to thank everyone who helped us in this action. Without your help, this young bison might not have made it.
Additionally, special thanks to Mr. Maciej Gławdeł, the teacher who found drowned cow, and informed special services. In his honor, the cow was named Maciejka.
