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Rescue from the line: Johnny the horse is led out of the river by police divers
Photo: Fernando Martinez Lopez / dpa
With an unusual rescue operation, the fire brigade in Seelze near Hanover freed a blind horse from an awkward situation.
According to an NDR report, the stallion Johnny Cash ran out of his paddock and fell into the Leine River.
Because of his visual impairment, Johnny couldn't find his way out of the water on his own.
The horse owners had informed the fire brigade.
By the time the helpers arrived, the 15-year-old horse had already walked a little way down the river – probably looking for a way out.
"The site was about 400 meters away from the paddock," operations manager Marek Wegner told NDR.
The fire brigade did not use a boat for the rescue so as not to scare the animal even further.
Instead, they made their way to Johnny on foot.
In the end, Johnny Cash seemed just waiting for his rescuers: a video shows the stallion standing calmly on a sandbar in the middle of the Leine River.
Then the police diver approaches with a halter that the animal can put on.
It then follows its rescuer through chest-high water back to shore.
Johnny's owner Uwe Helms was already waiting there, and he was visibly relieved that the rescue had been successful.
"There's nothing nicer," Helms told NDR.
A vet could not find any injuries on Johnny.
lmd