A bullock that went viral when it was pulled from a sinkhole by its back legs has made a miraculous recovery – but its owner says he won’t be renaming him Lucky.

The animal was “absolutely superb” soon after the rescue, manager of Witton Castle Country Park, Thomas Hague, told Sky News.

“He’s as good as can be,” he said.

When the bullock disappeared down a 10ft (3m) sinkhole at the County Durham estate last month, the farmers had to act fast to get him out, Mr Hague said.

They used “a couple of straps and a telehandler” to pull him free.

“It was just a case of getting him out quickly… we used what we could,” Mr Hague said.

The rescue, captured in the video below, involved slowly pulling the animal out using straps attached to his back legs.

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After the bullock was released he was given a “good check up” and it was quickly clear there were no muscular or skeletal problems to worry about, Mr Hague said.

“We knew he was okay and just kept an eye on him really.”

“The worry was the shock of it for him, we were a bit concerned… but he’s been absolutely fine and calm.”

The bullock could have spent as long as the whole night in the sinkhole – when the animals were checked in the evening there was no sinkhole, and in the morning one of them had disappeared into the ground.

“We didn’t think he had been down there too long because he was calm enough,” Mr Hague said.

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He added it looked as if the bullock had fallen gradually rather than plunging the full depth at once.

“I think he was cushioned going down, which was quite lucky,” he said.

A number of people have said the bullock should be named Lucky – but despite his burst of social media fame, they haven’t named him.

He’s now back to being just another bullock in the field.

“You wouldn’t even know which one he was now,” Mr Hague said.

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