Wagoner County Deputies Save Calf Stuck on Frozen Pond

A Wagoner County calf is safe after being stranded on a frozen pond over Christmas.

A call on Christmas Day brought three Wagoner County deputies out to a small farm to help a struggling calf.

"You could tell she had been there for a while. Her front legs were froze,” Wagoner County deputy Bill Sieg said.

Sieg's body camera video shows the rescue, which involved him taking several steps out on the frozen pond.

"Let’s do this. Let me come out here. And if this thing goes 'crack' I’ll slide it around; you all pull me out,” Sieg said to the other deputies.

"I figured that they were close enough, that I fell through, that they could get me out of the water. But we had a baby out there that needed to be saved,” he said.

The deputies did not have a rope to wrangle the calf, but they were resourceful and found something else to use nearby. Part of a gate, about 14 feet long and 50 pounds, proved to be just what they needed.

"It fit perfectly. Just like God intended,” Sieg said. “Got it around the backside of her and just pulled her off the ice.”

Once off the ice, Sieg said the baby calf reunited with its mom.

With the number of ranchers in Wagoner County depending on cattle for their livelihoods, Sieg said it is a priority for the sheriff's office to help save cattle whenever possible.

"Each cattle can be anywhere from $1,500 and up so you know a small cattle farm, that can be detrimental to their business,” Sieg said. “So the sheriff sends us to these calls and we all respond because we all like animals."

A Christmas Day on the job, with a lifesaving gift.