Two cows who made a dash for freedom from their farm in Seend ended up in the Kennet and Avon Canal and had to be rescued.

The dairy cows escaped from a field at Knightsmead Farm at Inmarsh when a gate was left open in the middle of the night and walked a mile until they fell in the Kennet and Avon Canal at Sells Green.

Someone on board a narrowboat heard splashing at 2am on Monday and were amazed to see the cows in the water. Firefighters Devizes , rural safety officer Tom Brolan and a crew from Amesbury trained in animal rescues were called out.

But the yearling cows tried to give their would-be saviours the slip by swimming away.

The Amesbury crew used a blow-up boat to get on to the canal and manoeuvred themselves towards the cows. But Mr Brolan said: “The cows are not used to being handled so they moved to the other side of the canal from where we were and were paddling away from the fire fighters.

“There were also quite a few barges which hampered us. We had to lay a trap for the cows by putting lines across the canal to bring them back over to us.

“In the end we managed to put lines around the back of each cow and brought them towards us.

“We then put halters around their necks to protect their heads and five or six fire fighters pulled them up the bank.”

The cows’ owner, farmer David A’bear, said: “I would like to thank the fire brigade for what they did, it was beyond the call of duty, and I would also like to thank the person on the barge who alerted the fire service.”