CASCO TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – There was an early-morning rescue effort just north of the Allegan/Van Buren County Line on Monday … involving a horse.
According to South Haven Area Emergency Services, crews were dispatched to a residence off of the Blue Star Highway near 106th Avenue around 4 AM on a report that the animal had been trapped in a sinkhole up to its head. The 32-year-old Arabian horse named “Tea Cup,” who had moved with her owners to the property recently, apparently fell into an old septic tank access hole, and a large cement collar kept the equine from moving. Other family animals “made a ruckus” that woke the residents and led to the call for help.
A backhoe from the City of South Haven was deployed, and it took about 90 minutes to get the animal out of its predicament. Despite attempts to warm the horse for another hour and a half, using portable heaters and tarps, it was determined by a veterinarian called in by the property owners that the ordeal put too much of a strain on the heart of “Tea Cup,” and the animal was humanely put down.
A towing company and the South Haven Public Works department also assisted in this effort.
