A MOOODY COW nearly drove rescuers mad as she made valiant efforts to emigrate by making a dash for the open seas.

The one-year-old Friesian, named Ghost, took a tumble from her field at an area known as Dock beach, in the tourist hotspot of Kinsale, Co Cork yesterday morning.

The frightened Friesian, which was marooned on rocks, was spotted by a man out on a passing yacht and members of the RNLI in Kinsale were called to the scene at 12.36 pm.

Kevin Gould, Lifeboat Operations Manager said: “We got a call to say there was a cow in distress on the rocks. When we managed to get close to her she was quite aggressive and was cut and bruised.”

The cow eventually ended up in the sea and it took up to three and a half hours to rescue her. The RNLI took the decision to close the beach in case the cow made a bolt for beach goers and onlookers.

She was gently towed back to safety on the Kinsale RNLI lifeboat, Miss Sally Anne Baggy II, and several crew members.

“We had a bit of a bovine adventure rescuing poor Ghost, the cow, who tumbled from her field at Castlepark onto the rocks below,” Gould said.

The farmer who owned her was located and he warned us that she could be a bit moody on the best of days so we knew we had our work cut out for us. The crew had to show great patience in trying to rescue her. It’s one thing dealing with humans but animals are a different story as they can be quite difficult.

“We made the decision to close the beach as a member of the public could have tried to help her and instead could have endangered their lives.

“RNLI members involved in the rescue managed to get a rope around a halter that she was wearing and eventually entice her into a nearby field. She was then, after some time, loaded up into a trailer and taken home. We’re happy to say she is now safely tucked up in her shed having a good old feed of hay.”

It is not the first time that Kinsale RNLI have had to rescue animals either.

“A few months ago we had to rescue, ‘Paddy’ the horse who got caught up in mussel fields. The human variety are definitely easier to deal with but we never say no to any rescue,” Gould added.