Scaredy cow

A man and his dog had to be rescued from a bog by helicopter after being chased by a herd of cows, police have said. The drama began when Tony Faye, 45, from Paignton, Devon, took his nine-year-old collie cross, Bailey, for a walk in fields close to the Double Locks hotel, near Exeter Canal.

At some point during their stroll, a herd of cows apparently took a dislike to the pair and began pursuing them, forcing the man and his pet into a muddy bog.

"I hit the mud and the cows were still following, so I walked out even further," Mr Faye said.

"It was getting deeper and deeper - I thought I was going to die," he told the BBC. He rang the police on his mobile phone and said he had been chased into the swamp by some cows," said Baxter Provan, Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman.

"He said he was hanging on to a branch and was sinking in the mud."

Devon Fire and Rescue personnel, using specialist rescue equipment brought from Plymouth, 40 miles away, were taken to the scene by the helicopter.

The police in the helicopter spotted man and dog at 9.26pm waist deep in mud and clinging to a tree.

The man was examined by ambulance personnel at the scene, but did not need hospital treatment. The dog did not require veterinary treatment, said the fire service.