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Southland Times, Issue 23647, 24 October 1938, Page 3

An extraordinary incident is recorded from Somes Island. A white cow, one of a mob being trucked at Petone, jumped from the wharf and swam to Leper Island, the small islet to the north. A telephone message was received by the officer in charge of the stock station on Somes Island and, as the result of a search, the animal was discovered. An effort was made to entice it to swim to the island, but this failed and it was decided that the only solution was to kill it, as there is no forage or water on the islet. Two men came over from Fort Dorset and, after two shots missed, the stock manager succeeded in the killing of the cow, which was skinned and the carcass thrown into the sea. The distance swum by the cow was over two miles.