My source told me a rocketeer entered a pasture to retrieve a rocket and left the gate open. The cows got out and went into a field of green alfalfa. The cows ate the alfalfa and it created alcohol when it reacted with their stomach acid. A vet was called, but he wasn't able to save all the cattle.
This is exactly what happened. Someone didn't follow the site rules and left a gate open. One of our club members was on RSO duty at NSL when the farmer came over to talk about the incident.
End of thread.
Well I got an answer on the NAR members forum and here it is:
On behalf of the NAR board executive committee:
Some rockets, launched appropriately, landed near some cattle in a neighboring field. Some cattle spooked and ran through a fence into a nearby alfalfa field. A number of the cows ate too much alfalfa and foundered, unfortunately, causing them to die. A number however, were also rescued by a local vet.
Obviously, the NAR always tries to be a good neighbor. Unfortunately, sometimes unforeseen things happen, which is why we have insurance. We very much appreciate the understanding and cooperation of the farmer involved as well as the fine work done by our insurance representative. |
You have the actual story and the official story. The problem I see is that the official story is misleading as to the nature of the cow's movement and leaves out the actual failure/error that allowed the incident to happen.
"Some cattle spooked and ran through a fence..."
doesn't deliver the same message or lesson, nor indicate the same type of preventive measures as,
"...left the gate open."
In particular, the NAR language implies the cows broke down an intact fence. That's a very different situation than cows deciding to pass through a gate that was left open, even if they do the cow galumphing thing and sorta trot/run through the gate.
I wasn't there, but I can certainly see cows getting it in their heads to go through an open gate without having to have a rocket land among/near them. If the gate was left open, they may have decided to go through it with or without the rocket landing near them. On the other hand, maybe they were minding their own business and continuing to graze until a strange person walked in amongst them and they decided to leave the area, and also saw the open gate to the alfalfa field.
So we're all sitting around typing six pages into the web talking about it. I think the reason some of us are this interested/concerned is that we recognize we have little control over where our rockets come down, and it may not be in our power to prevent them coming down near some cows, if there are any around. And since launching MPR/HPR rockets works better in rural/agricultural environments, there are often some around where many of us launch.
It seems pretty clear that the solution to this particular problem would have been simply to leave gates how you find them. Not difficult, something any of us, or a ten year old child, can do. But the message from NAR doesn't present that simple solution, so we've all been sitting around wondering how to keep this from happening to us.
So yeah, NAR could be a LOT more helpful by making their messaging reflect the actual problem and thereby also communicating how to prevent it from happening again, anywhere and everywhere.