A father-and-son duo rescued a baby calf from a dumpster in Virginia. Mike Lloyd on Facebook
An unusual sound at a dump site led to the heartwarming rescue of a newborn calf, a Virginia man said.
Mike Lloyd was making a routine trip to the recycling and collection center near his home in Halifax on Nov. 13 when he found the baby cow, he told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
“I threw a bag of trash in and was about to leave, and I heard something making like a little scraping noise,” he said.
When Lloyd looked inside the dumpster, he was surprised to find a rough-looking baby calf at the bottom of it, he said.
Then he sprung into action and ran back home to get some extra help from his dad, he said. When they were back at the site, the father-son duo got the calf out.
“That day, I thought it was going to pass away,” Lloyd said.
He said they went to a supply store to buy the calf food. Now, the cute animal — which the family named Katie Jo — is doing much better, he said.
“God had … big plans for me to find that calf that day, or it would’ve never happened,” Lloyd said. “I feel like he’s always got something in store for you.”
Although the family brought the calf home and fed her, Lloyd said he credits God as the only one who could “bring her back around.”
Lloyd said Katie Jo has become good friends with the family’s dog, and they’ve been sleeping together each night.
“She’s pretty spunky,” he said, adding that the family plans to keep Katie Joe indefinitely.