Image copyright Rhonda Hunter Photography Image caption Cows are seen on the beach on Cedar Island in July 2017

Three cows swept off an island in North Carolina during Hurricane Dorian have been found alive after apparently swimming for several miles.

The cows belong to a herd on the US state's Cedar Island but were swept away in September by a "mini tsunami" generated by Dorian.

They were presumed dead until they were spotted at the Cape Lookout National Seashore park on the Outer Banks.

Plans are now under way to send them back home.

Park officials say they believe the three stranded cows swam up to five miles (8km) to make it to the Outer Banks barrier islands.

Spokesman BG Horvat told the McClatchy news group that park staff spotted the first cow on the North Core barrier island about a month after the storm, while the two others were discovered in the past two weeks.

Mr Horvat said the animals were lucky not to have drifted into the Atlantic, which happened to some wild horses.

They "certainly have a gripping story to share", he added.

Hurricane Dorian made landfall on North Carolina's Outer Banks in early September as a Category One storm, lashing the state with heavy rains, winds and flooding.

It travelled there from the Bahamas, where dozens of people were killed.

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