A young bull washed away from a paddock above Maruia Falls during the recent Buller floods survived being swept 70km to 80km downstream, and was found alive and well on the edge of a Westport farm.
Maruia farmer Tony Peacock said the 18-month-old bull was grazing on a terrace above the Maruia River, in the Shenandoah area, with 37 others when it got caught by the rising floodwaters, along with two herd-mates, in the second flood to hit the region this month.
"I got a call from Ospri last Thursday morning, a week after he was gone. They said a guy in Westport had one of my bulls and gave me his [ear tag] number," Peacock said.
"I rang him and he said he was getting his cows in last Wednesday or Thursday morning when he heard a bit of snuffling coming from a patch of blackberry on the edge of the paddock. He dug him out, scanned his tag and rang Ospri."
He was now waiting for his well-travelled bull to be trucked home.