The community feared the worst for the stock marooned on the washed-up debris underneath the Motueka bridge.
Two sheep were trapped on the tenuous island that had collected on the upstream side of the bridge, with another tucked a little further underneath in Friday’s rising floodwaters. A young cow, barely visible in the pelting rain, was barely keeping its head up above the debris.
Unlike the story of so much stock around the area, this one has a happy ending.
Local farmer Hadley McLean had spent all morning sorting out the stock on his family farm. He headed to the bridge to scope out the river levels, and there he spied the sheep, which happened to belong on his farm.
There wasn’t much to be done but to watch and hope, and while he stood there, the stock were pushed under the bridge and began swimming for their lives.
Hadley crossed over the bridge and began hollering at the sheep, trying to force them away from the centre of the river.
It worked. The three bedraggled sheep veered to the right and clamoured onto the bank, with the cow managing to find firm land a little further downstream.
