Swimming instructor Katie Cookson leapt into a canal to save a drowning calf after its herd escaped from a farm yesterday.

The herd of 40 cows had raced along the Kennet and Avon Canal in Spout Lane, Seend, after escaping from a nearby farm.

But as canal worker Dominic Barlow tried to round them up the calf fell into the canal.

Mr Barlow and a passer-by tried in vain to to pull the calf out with a body strap until Miss Cookson, who was on her way to teach a lifesaving class, stepped in.

Miss Cookson, 34, who runs the Elite Swim School, said: “I was just coming over from dropping my daughter Megan at school and I heard a bit of commotion. Originally I thought someone might have fallen in the canal.

“I walked down and saw it was a calf and stood back to see if the guys could get him out, then when they couldn’t get him out, I thought ‘I’ll get it’.

“I couldn’t stand by and not help it, because of my knowledge and experience. It was my duty more than anything.

“I was already in my swim stuff, ironically I was on my way to teach a lifesaving instructing class, and that is another reason why I stopped because I knew if anyone could get in the water it was me.”

Philippa Michaelson, who lives on a boat on the canal, woke up after hearing the distressed animal.

She said: “It was weird because I just heard this distressed sound and some blokes shouting and they were trying to pull him out.

“I was just waking up and it was although it was a bit of a dream. I wasn’t sure whether it was really happening or not.”

Once freed all the cows were herded back to the field and Miss Cookson returned to her van to warm up with a towel.

For Mr Barlow, from the Canal and River Trust, it was the last thing he expected to see as he arrived to do some maintenance work on the canal.

He found himself face-to-face with a bull and single handily began to try and rescue the trapped calf. It was only by chance Miss Cookson and her partner were passing by and stopped to see what was happening.

Mr Barlow said: “The calf was stuck behind one of the boats so we undid the rope of the boat and pushed the boat back out.

“I got a one tonne body strap out the back of my van and put it around the calf’s neck so he was above water and still breathing.

“We brought it further down the river and we were going to lift him up with my crane on my van and then the strap came off the calf’s neck and he went across to the other side of the bank and got stuck.”

She said: “It was weird because I just heard this distressed sound and some blokes shouting and they were trying to pull him out.

“I was just waking up and it was although it was a bit of a dream. I wasn’t sure whether it was really happening or not.”

Once freed all the cows were herded back to the field and Miss Cookson returned to her van to warm up with a towel.

For Mr Barlow, who works for the Canal and River Trust, it was the last thing he expected to see as he arrived to do some maintenance work on the canal.

He found himself face-to-face with a bull and single handily began to try and rescue the trapped calf. It was only by chance Miss Cookson and a friend were passing by and stopped to see what was happening.

Mr Barlow said: “The calf was stuck behind one of the boats so we undid the rope of the boat and pushed the boat back out.

“I got a one tonne body strap out the back of my van and put it around the calf’s neck so he was above water and still breathing.

“We brought it further down the river and we were going to lift him up with my crane on my van and then the strap came off the calf’s neck and he went across to the other side of the bank and got stuck.”