The cow who came in from the cold...

It looks cold in the Sakha Republic but this cow perhaps didn't realise she was skating  on thin ice. The animal fell into the frozen pond in the village of Prigorodoye, near Yakutsk.

By the time emergency services arrived, the poor cow was exhausted and stranded five metres from terra firma. Rescuers, dressed in a special suits and using a safety rope, approached the animal, after carefully  putting a horizontal ladder on the fragile ice. 

The grateful cow did not resist being tethered with a rope by the horns. Then rescuers cut through the ice making a track to shore, slowing pulling the stranded creature to safety.

They used an axe and then a chainsaw to construct the canal. Finally, success. Rumours the cow was treated with a warming vodka are not confirmed. 

One of the saviours, Nikolay Starostin, explained modestly: 'Sometimes we face saving people and animals. In this case, we tried to work carefully not to scare the cow.' He added: 'I believe we will remember this case for a long time.'