Rescue in the Innviertel

Horse sank into the moor: pulled out by hand

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel/Daniel Scharinger)

"We had to pull it out by hand, we would never have been able to get there with an emergency vehicle or a tractor" - the firefighters from Franking and Ibm mustered all their strength to rescue a horse. The horse had sunk into the Ibmer Moor and would have perished without help.

Animal rescue operation for the fire departments in the Innviertel region on Thursday afternoon. A horse had sunk in the Ibmer Moor, which belongs to Eggelsberg, Moosdorf and Franking and is the largest moorland in Austria. Four riders, who had ridden from Burgenland to the Innviertel for several days, crossed a wooden bridge. Three managed the crossing without any problems, but the apparently already rotten construction collapsed under the fourth horse.

Rider calmed her horse
Horse and rider fell into the moor. While the rider was able to save herself and remained uninjured, the animal got stuck and sank helplessly into the mire. The other riders had no chance of freeing it either and the Burgenland residents raised the alarm. Firefighters from Ibm and Franking arrived, but had to do without rescue equipment. "We had to pull it out by hand, we wouldn't have been able to get there with a car or tractor," says incident commander Anton Zirnitzer from the Franking fire brigade.

Straps were tightened under the animal and it was then pulled out of the moor as gently as possible. The rider was always there, calming her horse. After around two hours, the operation was over. "Everything turned out well, the horse took a while, but in the end it was back on all fours and was able to walk away from the scene of the accident with its rider," said Zirnitzer and his comrades, pleased that the rescue was a success.