Did you see an odd looking horse in Griffith this weekend? Well don't worry, your eyes weren't playing tricks on you.
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A state of the art 400 kilogram horse mannequin was in town on Saturday and Sunday, as the Griffith SES underwent training in large animal rescue.
The training saw SES volunteers practice in saving large domestic animals such as horses and cows from a variety of situations, and means Griffith farmers can now call the SES if they have an animal in need of help.
"We've now trained the local Griffith SES unit in technical large animal rescue and they'll be able to assist anyone has a large animal stuck," local rescue officer Anthony Hatch said.
"Whether it's a horse that's fallen over in the back of a horse float, or a cow stuck in a river, our operators are now trained to deal with that ... and it's a service which is completely free of charge."
As well as undergoing the training, the Griffith SES unit also received state of the art large animal rescue equipment, which will be used in operations going forward.
This included large two animal stretchers strong enough to carry a 1500 kilogram bull.
Bringing the training to the MIA was particularly noteworthy for Mr Hatch, who is considered an expert in technical large animal rescue around the world.
Griffith-raised and Griffith-based, Mr Hatch developed the training packages now being taught to SES teams across the country.
"A few years ago I went and studied in America, England, Spain, Italy and learned the best practices from around the world in rescuing large animals," Mr Hatch told The Area News.
"I brought this information back and developed training packages for the SES and now Australia is leading the world in this field."
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According to Mr Hatch, a major focus of the training is safety - both for the animal in turmoil and the rescuers trying the help it.
"As you can imagine, it can be very dangerous," he said.
"An animal that is 100 to 1000 kilos kicking and thrashing can kill someone ... so we train in safety techniques and how to put rescue equipment onto the animal safely."
As well as having his own expertise available in Griffith, Mr Hatch said the local unit was also very lucky to have local veterinarian Natalie Ford as a volunteer, making them even more qualified to help animals in trouble.
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