Race To Save Stranded Bovine, Beloved Lucy

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Fire crews and veterinarians mounted a determined, hours-long rescue to save a stranded 19-year-old Scottish Highland cow named Lucy, drawing an outpouring of community support.

Lucy lost her footing, rolled down a hillside on Thursday evening and became wedged in thick blackberry bramble and fencing.

Responders from Occidental, Sebastopol and Graton fire departments, along with staff from Cotati Large Animal Hospital, arrived around 5 p.m.

Crews worked steadily for nearly six hours, navigating steep terrain and dense brush to free Lucy.

"The unbelievable support, frankly, left me in tears and speechless," her owner, Tracy Gonnella said. "I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, they were going to get her out of there one way or the other."

They crews stayed until 11 p.m. trying to move her to a safer, more comfortable place on the hill. Sadly, Lucy passed the next day. A neighbor dug a permanent resting spot for her on the hill.

Gonnella thanked family, friends and the wider community as messages of sympathy poured in from across the North Bay.

"I’m so sorry for your loss. Lucy is a beautiful creature," wrote a Sebastopol woman. A Bodega Bay resident wrote on Next Door. "My heart goes out to you in the loss of your beautiful Lucy."

The Cotati Large Animal Hospital on Gravenstein Hwy provides care to horses, cattle, goats, sheep, camelids and pigs in Sonoma and Marin Counties at a hospital on Highway 116 in Cotati, and in the field. The veterinarian who assisted Lucy was not available for comment.

But large animal rescues are not unfamiliar to first responders in Sonoma County.

In January, local firefighters found themselves hoisting a 1-ton steer named Bob out of a ravine during heavy rains.

Bob's rescuers thanked the Halter Project, a Glen Ellen organization founded to assist with large animal rescues, from horses to Nigerian dwarf goat babies.

With the project’s help, the county has two large animal rescue teams — one led by the Sonoma Valley Fire District and another by the Graton Fire District, which helped Lucy.