One Horse Dies, Another Airlifted to Safety Near Palm Springs

PALM SPRINGS, CA- One horse died and another was airlifited to safety after the pair fell into a ravine near Palm Springs over the weekend, county officials report.

According to John Welsh with the Riverside County Animal Services Department, the two horses were first injured Saturday afternoon when they fell from a ridge in a remote area south of Interstate 10, and west of Highway 111.

"But the amount of daylight was fading, so a rescue attempt with a Riverside County Sheriff’s helicopter unit and H.A.R.T. members was scheduled for early Sunday morning," Welsh said. [RECIRC

The next morning, after the horses' owners stayed overnight with the animals, emergency crews got to work.

Members from H.A.R.T., short for Horse Animal Rescue Team, staged a rescue operation from the Snow Creek area on Sunday, readying an Anderson Sling to hoist the animals out of the area, Welsh said.

"Sometime between noon and 1 p.m., the first horse safely arrived to the staging area," Welsh said. "The horse, which had been sedated prior to the airlift, was immediately treated for injuries. When the sedation wore off, the horse came to its feet, then it was gingerly walked toward the owner’s trailer."

The saga did not end the same for the other horse, though, according to Welsh.

That one had suffered serious trauma to its head in its initial fall, and then fell a second time down the ravine when rescuers were trying to prepare it for its airlift.

"That second fall ultimately led to the horse’s death," Welsh said.