Cows in sea spark rescue effort

The cows swapped their usual habitat for the beach at Dornoch

Pregnant cows cooling off in the sea have sparked a major rescue operation as a heatwave hit the Highlands.

Up to 20 cows were spotted in the Dornoch Firth, in Easter Ross, resulting in 999 calls from concerned members of the public.

Coastguard crews from Portmahomack and Dornoch rushed to the scene, along with the Dornoch Inshore Lifeboat.

But the local farmer assured the rescue services that the cows were "chilling out" because of the searing sunshine.

An Aberdeen Coastguard spokesman said: "We got calls about cows in the sea at Dornoch beach, in particular about one up to its neck in water with the tide coming in.

"There was concern they might drown, particularly one that was in mud at the south side of the bridge.

"We tasked the local coastguard teams, who train in that area, and they spoke to the farmer."

'In difficulty'

They were told that many of the cows were pregnant and that they often went into the water to cool down.

"The one that appeared to be in difficulty was called in by the farmer," the spokesman said.

"Once we established that they were not going to be in difficulty we stood the incident down.

"It appears it has been going on for years but we have to respond to concerns raised by members of the public.

"The worry was the farmer, himself, might get into difficulty, but everything was fine."

The incident happened as temperatures in the Highland hit record levels for 2008, including 24C for the Dornoch area.