Baby horse gets 'second chance at life' after being rescued by paddlers in Kananaskis River
The two were making their way down the Kananaksis River on July 12 when they came across a group of horses along the bank.
Haddad told CBC News one horse walking along the shoreline suddenly entered the river in front of their boat.
"We were kind of freaking out there, because there's a massive horse that's just in the water stopping us from continuing on," said Haddad, who lives in the Calgary area.
"And then we look to our right and there's this baby horse … pinned against the concrete part of the bridge, that is unable to move or get out."
Gleig, a Canmore resident, said the mother horse was "quite panicked" as the depth of the water prevented her from reaching her foal.
Gleig and Haddad, both students of the University of Calgary's environmental science program, knew they couldn't leave the young animal there.
"We went forward and decided we need to save this foal," Haddad said.
WATCH | Foal freed from flowing river:
They dragged the boat up to the shore before venturing back into the water, scaring off the adult horses in the process.
Rescuing the foal was a team effort, with Gleig grabbing it while Haddad paddled.
"Somehow we were able to drag him across the the river stream, back to the the safer bank," said Gleig.
"He's maybe like 80, 90 pounds, less than a week old," she said. "So still a big animal, but very small for a horse."
Luckily for the foal, there was a former lifeguard onboard.
"I've been a lifeguard, and I spent a lot of time in the river, so it was kind of using that sort of training," Gleig said.
Haddad said the rescue was a success, with the foal co-operating fully.
"He didn't fight back against us," she said. "He just let us take him, so that worked out really well."
Now that it was rescued, a new problem arose: the adult horses, including the foal's mother, had been scared off during the rescue effort.
"We were stuck with him, without his mom or anything," Gleig said. "We tried to leave him in the sun, hoping that the mom would come back if we weren't there, but we ended up waiting on that shoreside for about an hour and a half, and they never ended up coming back."
Every time they tried to paddle away without the foal in the hopes its mother would return, "he would hop straight back into the water, which was not ideal," said Gleig.
"I think he just didn't want to be left alone, which was really sweet, but made it a little bit more complicated for us."
Determined to keep the foal safe, the pair took matters into their own hands.
"I ended up putting my life-jacket on him and picking him up and putting him in the boat with us," said Gleig. "And miraculously, somehow he was calm enough, and was OK with being in the boat.
The pair paddled downstream with the foal for about 20 minutes.
"He took a little nap there because he was just so tired," Gleig said.
'It was a good ending'
As the two tried to figure out what to do, Gleig was able to get a hold of somebody from the nearby Mînî Thnî community.
The man who arrived to the scene recognized the horses solely from photos he was shown.
"The guy knew exactly what herd [the foal] was from because we showed him photos … he came, picked [the foal] up, put him in the back of his pickup truck and drove him back," Gleig said.
Afterwards, the foal was successfully reunited with its mother, the pair said.
The man "said he found the mom and reunited them, which was really good," Gleig said.
"It was a good ending, which made it a good day," she said.
Haddad was happy the two were able to help the foal.
"He has this second chance at life," she said. "If we weren't there, he probably wouldn't be here today."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
6 hours ago
- CBS News
Manatee spotted on Cape Cod for first time in nearly a decade
A manatee has been spotted on Cape Cod for the first time since 2016. It was first seen in Mashpee on July 26, according to MassWildlife protected species program manager Erin Burke. It was seen again on July 29 in Mattapoisett, where it briefly ended up stranded on the tidal flats before people helped get it back into the water. MassWildlife has been in contact with the International Fund for Animal Welfare about potentially rescuing the manatee. Burke said water temperatures will soon dip below what a manatee can handle. "The reason they're concerned is because the animal doesn't look well, it looks a little thin," Burke said. Manatees typically make their home in the warm waters off Florida and the Gulf Coast and will migrate further north in the summer. It's uncommon, but not unheard of, for manatees to make their way up to New England, Burke said. A pregnant manatee was rescued on Cape Cod in 2016 as the water turned colder and then released in Florida. In 2023, a manatee was spotted in Quonochontaug Pond in Charlestown, Rhode Island and was later found dead. The IFAW said only four manatee sightings have been documented in Massachusetts in the last 17 years. It is working with federal wildlife officials to monitor the manatee. "We ask that anyone who encounters this manatee or any other marine mammal maintains a safe and respectful distance-at least 150 feet. Do not attempt to feed, touch, or closely approach the animal," the organization said in a statement. "These actions can be harmful to both the animal and the public, and in some cases are a violation of federal law." Anyone who sees the manatee in distress is urged to call the IFAW's stranding hotline at 508-743-9548.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Hunter survives 90-metre tumble down mountainous trail near Prince Rupert, B.C.
A hunter who tumbled 90 metres down a mountainous trail is lucky to be alive, according to the search crews who were called to the scene. Jordy Bouillet, president of the Prince Rupert Ground Search and Rescue team, says that on Aug. 2, crews were called out to an area near Lachmach Lake, approximately 50 kilometres by road from the North Coast city, after getting a report of two goat hunters in distress. "One of the hunters had fallen approximately 300 feet (90 metres) down a rocky, [approximately] 65-degree slope, and he had multiple fractures to his lower limbs," Bouillet said. In a Facebook post, the injuries were described as "substantial lower limb injuries." Bouillet described the terrain as "very steep" rock, with "small, little goat trails" leading up to a peak. "I believe it had just rained recently, and there is lichen on that rock, so they probably slipped on that," he said, adding he is surprised the hunter survived. "The pair is lucky to be here," he said. Search crews also credit the hunters for being equipped with a personal transmission device that allowed them to share their coordinates and be easily found and helicoptered out, with Bouillet adding it would have been very difficult to locate them without that technology. "These guys did everything right," he said.
CBS News
13 hours ago
- CBS News
Bird blamed for dropping fish on power line, sparking "heavy fire" in Canada
Firefighters who found a charred fish at a fire in western Canada believe a tired bird may be to blame for sparking the blaze. The fire department in Ashcroft, British Columbia, was called to respond to a "heavy fire" about 4 miles south of the town on July 30. "A quick investigation revealed the cause of this fire. It was determined to be a fish," the department said in a Facebook post, which included images of smoldering land and a charred fish. "Yes, you read that right, the fish had an incredible journey." The nearest river is about two miles away, but investigators determined the fish was scooped up by an osprey, which then dropped it onto a power line midflight. Sparks from the disrupted line ignited the dry grass below, the department said, speculating the bird may have dropped its catch because it was tired from the excess heat. "Or another suspicion could be that it's tired of raw fish and wanted to give cooked a try," the department joked. The fish was thoroughly charred after the incident but Ashcroft's fire department said the osprey sustained no injuries. In a subsequent Facebook post, the fire department quipped that the osprey was being held in custody for questioning. "The judge has not granted bail as the suspect poses an extreme….flight risk!" the department wrote. The department said roughly 4,800 gallons of water was used to douse the blaze, which burned near the east side of a highway. The fire, which was extinguished without further incident, was relatively small but smoke from other Canadian wildfires is causing air quality concerns for many Americans in the Midwest and Northeast for another day this week.
