LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A bull, horse, goat and sheep have one thing in common.
They were all rescued from thick mud due to the drought having dried up ponds.
News 6’s Matt Austin reported the goat and sheep were rescued earlier this month.
Fast forward to this past weekend, and the Lake County Fire and Rescue helped to pull out the horse and bull.
“These animals getting stuck was due to the drought we are currently experiencing and what was usually ponds or small areas of water drying up,” said Lake County PIO Lexie Farmer.
And when it came to the bull, Lake County called in the Sumter County Special Operations for some help.
“Thankfully, these types of incidents don’t happen often”- says Sumter County Emergency Operations.
Now that might be the case for Sumter County, but in Lake County it’s a different name of the game, with four rescues reported in one month.
Earlier this month, our Matt Austin covered the first two...that goat and sheep being pulled from thick mud of a dried-up pond in Groveland.
Matt himself nearly getting stuck in a pond that was once 9 feet deep, but it is now drained due to the drought, with lots of thick mud left behind.
With this weekend’s likely rain there could be even more mud.
So the question now is are even more animals at risk of getting stuck in mud that’s thick?
Lake County PIO says in part, “Residents should not expect conditions to worsen because of the rain, but we still encourage everyone to stay alert.”