A first for Galveston Beach Patrol: Water rescue of cow

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During his 30-year career with the Galveston Island Beach Patrol, Peter Davis has responded to his share of unusual calls.

He's helped rescue alligators, pulled to safety scores of dogs and cats after Hurricane Ike, and even put a halt to a pornographic movie being shot on a Galveston beach in the mid-1980s.

Now Davis can add another notch to his belt: the dramatic rescue of a cow stranded on a sandbar about a quarter mile out in Galveston Bay at the San Luis Pass.

The drama began on Wednesday morning, when the adventurous cow wandered away from its owner's property. The owner first contacted Galveston police, who were unable to catch the breakaway bovine.

Then, about 1:30 p.m., an island resident called 911 to report a cow lost at sea. Could that be?

"The cow had actually walked out there because it was low tide and made it onto a shallow area," explained Davis, chief of the 110-member Beach Patrol. "It was standing on a sandbar about a quarter-mile from shore."

But there was one small problem: Rescuers couldn't use a personal watercraft because the water was shallow and the bottom uneven, so instead they walked and paddled out to the cow on a rescue board.

"They were hollering, 'Go, go, go, shoo, shoo, shoo!' " Davis said. "When it started moving they followed it and boxed it in. They brought it underneath the shady bridge where the owner picked it up."

It ended up being history in the making - the first water rescue of a cow in the annals of the beach patrol.

"Honestly, nothing surprises me anymore," Davis said. "Every year there's stuff that happens that you never would have thought would happen."

The San Luis Pass on Galveston's West End is a dangerous spot to swim or wade because of its unpredictable currents. It's where the Gulf of Mexico meets Galveston Bay, and is a favorite spot for angling.

Since 2002, the San Luis Pass has had 11 drownings, four of which have occurred since Memorial Day weekend.