Title: Heroic Rescue: Helicopter Saves Stranded Horse from Yellowstone River
A horse brought itself to water, scrambling Yellowstone County rescue crews Friday morning.
The Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office Air One, flown by Gary Blain, lifts a horse that was stranded on a gravel bar in the Yellowstone River near Mullowney Lane on Monday morning.
A gelding that wandered off a property near Duck Creek was stranded on a gravel bar, prompting a helicopter crew to airlift him out of there. “The horse is safe and sound,” said Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder, who watched as his agency’s helicopter picked up the horse from the riverbank and returned him to his owner, who was waiting with a trailer.
A horse stranded on a gravel bar in the Yellowstone River near Mullowney Lane on Friday morning.
A formerly stranded horse reunites with his owner after a successful air rescue on Monday morning. “He was eating grass, last I heard,” Linder said. The horse had been missing from his pasture since Tuesday, Linder said, and someone near Mullowney Lane spotted him Thursday night. In the interest of safety, Linder said rescuers waited until Friday morning to get him out of the river.
The Yellowstone County Sheriff’s deputies use a jet boat to aid a horse that was stranded on a gravel bar in the Yellowstone River near Mullowney Lane on Monday morning.
Residents watch as a horse is rescued from a gravel bar in the Yellowstone River near Mullowney Lane. Resident Jessica Garza spotted the horse and called authorities. “We haven’t airlifted anything like this,” Linder said, “but we have herded cattle.”
In the midst of the historic floods in the summer of 2022, pilots in the YCSO helicopter guided loose cattle who were belly-deep in the river out of the water. Members of U.S. Water Rescue approached the horse and coaxed him to the riverbank with food, Linder said. From there, he was rigged to the helicopter and was airborne. The helicopter took him to his owner just south of the river.
