Large Animal Rescue

Large Animal Rescue

April 7, 2012

Walking into the Large Animal Rescue Class, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I had the impression that the class would involve sitting in a classroom all day and learning how to rescue large animals what I actually experienced was much different. The class offered a real hands on approach that I think helped me learn the basics to rescuing large animals.

I didn’t realize how much actually goes into rescuing a large animal from distress. Whether it be an overturned trailer, mud, flood, or even a fire among others, there can be risks involved in every scenario and people put their lives in danger to rescue the animal.

An overturned trailer can be one of the most dangerous accidents to happen to an animal. There are many different types of trailers that you can haul the animals in. Slant load trailers, farm animal trailers, and straight load trailers. Each of the trailers hold their own benefits and before choosing to haul a large animals the trailers should be thought through carefully. For starters, it is never okay to haul a horse in anything that is made for other farm animals. Those trailers are highly dangerous to horses because they are unstable and there are multiple openings throughout the trailer. Cows, pigs, and sheep sit low to the ground; if the trailer were to flip over its easier for those particular animals to right themselves. If a horse is in a livestock trailer and it flips over their extremities will most likely go through all the slats that are cut out of a trailer. When there legs go through those holes it will cause damage to them.. There legs might break or they might be cut down to the bone leaving the horse seriously injured and in a situation where euthanasia is the only option. A horse should only be loaded into a trailer that is made for specifically for horses and has been checked before each trip that everything...