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UF VETS rescues blind mare from sinkhole

Brandi Phillips of the UF VETS team, left, is shown with other team volunteers after lifting this blind mare, who was also pregnant, out of a sinkhole she had fallen into in Trenton. (Photo courtesy of Brandi Phillips)

A pregnant, blind mare, who had fallen into a freshly opened sinkhole in Trenton, Florida, was rescued on June 9, thanks to the efforts of the UF Veterinary Emergency Treatment Service.

UF VETS team members learned of the situation when they received a call from Dr. Erica Lacher, an equine veterinarian in the area. As it happens, the team had just completed the second of a three-day, operations-level animal technical rescue training course at the Florida State Fire College in Ocala.

“Three of the UF VETS instructors responded with six students, along with firefighters from Nassau County, Jacksonville, Palm Beach County, Auburndale, and a veterinary technician from the UF Small Animal Hospital,” Phillips said. “The team was able to quickly deploy and rescued the mare using techniques that they had practiced hours before at the Fire College.”

Phillips said after the rescue, the mare’s owners relocated her and their other horses to a different pasture while they addressed the freshly opened hole.