Dr. John Madigan, a UC Davis professor of veterinary medicine, and fourth-year veterinary student Jacqui Wittemore are in North Carolina this week, helping to pluck stranded horses and livestock from rising flood waters. Madigan, the associate director of the campus's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital and an expert in equine and emergency veterinary medicine, heads up the veterinary school's emergency response team. The unit is trained and authorized by the California Office of Emergency Services to rescue animals during disasters. The team is equipped with a special sling, which Madigan helped design, for use in airlifting horses from inaccessible sites. The International Fund for Animal Welfare sought Madigan's assistance in rescuing animals trapped by flood waters that followed last week's Hurricane Floyd along the East Coast. Madigan and Wittemore, both from Woodland, are now based in Kinston, N.C. On Sunday they helped airlift four cows. On Monday they rescued a heifer from the roof of a barn by boat. They also joined forces with the Air National Guard to airlift a horse trapped against a barbed-wire fence from five feet of water, using a Blackhawk helicopter. They are surveying the area by helicopter, looking for animals and scouting out routes by which feed can be delivered to stranded chickens, turkeys and hogs. Madigan and Wittemore expect to be in North Carolina through Saturday, Sept. 25. Still photographs will be available upon request.