Boy jumps in freezing pond to save cow ‘bobbing’ in icy water, Tennessee video shows
A Tennessee boy is being called a “hero” after a video showed him rescuing a baby cow who took an unexpected cold plunge.
Wynonna, a “sweet longhorn calf,” was walking around a farm in Philadelphia, Tennessee, when she broke through the ice coating the top of a pond, Smokin’ F BBQ & Feedlot wrote in a Jan. 16 Facebook video post. She plummeted into the water, and all that could be seen was her “little head bobbing up and down,” the restaurant said.
That’s when 16-year-old Oliver Reyes, who is one of the owner’s children, sprung into action, WVLT reported.
Oliver waded into the water, breaking chunks of ice and tossing them so he could make his way over to the struggling calf, the video shows. As he trudged in, another person named Lincoln went to grab rope, the restaurant wrote.
But Oliver didn’t need the rope. He dragged Wynonna through the frigid waters and yanked her out onto land, the video shows. Wynonna skidded on some ice before she was ultimately pushed safely on shore.
Then, she trotted off in the snow, shaking off the cold water, the video shows. Oliver also climbed up out of the pond.
“When it gets that deep it’s hard to breathe and you start to go into shock and it’s hard but you just grab the cow around the neck and drag it out and hope it dries out alright,” Oliver told WVLT.
After sitting by the fire for a bit, Oliver was right back to going outside and snowboarding, the restaurant said in the video’s comments.
In an update the following day, the restaurant thanked everyone for checking in on “baby Wynonna and Oliver.” Both of them were “warm and healthy,” the restaurant said.
Facebook users in the comments were amazed by Oliver’s wintertime rescue, one person calling him an “amazing young man.”
“Oliver is a hero! Glad they are both safe and warm.....the outcome COULD have been so much worse!” a commenter wrote.
Philadelphia, Tennessee, is about 40 miles southwest of Knoxville.
This story was originally published January 18, 2024 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Boy jumps in freezing pond to save cow ‘bobbing’ in icy water, Tennessee video shows."
