10th June 2009

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Loose bear afeared of cattle

A black bear has caused a stir in Castalia, Iowa, where it was spotted roaming Monday.

Black bears aren’t usually found in Iowa, notes the AP, but the 200-ish pound beast may have wandered into the state from Minnesota or Missouri.

It was last seen traveling south toward Clemont by Todd Waterman of Castalia (he took the picture at right). “It was hauling butt going south,” Waterman told reporters.

As Waterman watched, a herd of cattle approach the bear, scaring it into a tree where it remained until nightfall. It hasn’t been seen since.

Tags bearscowsencounters

16th May 2009

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German deer seeks fun-loving bovines

A deer in Ellund, Germany, near the Danish border, has taken up with a herd of cows. He’s been with them two weeks now and, farmer Jürgen Nicolaysen tells the German press, an obvious connection has been made.

According to my extremely shaky translation of his adorable quotes, Nicolaysen wishes to convey that the deer was afraid of the cows at first, but has become increasingly docile. Nicolaysen’s children feed the deer apples, gave him the name Fritz, and their hope is that at the end of the season Fritz can be taken to a petting zoo.

Tags deermagic momentscows

8th May 2009

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This cow is living the hay life

Molly, the cow who escaped a slaughterhouse and ran through Queens, was granted a reprieve and now resides in green, grassy comfort at 60-acre organic Long Island farm not far from the Hamptons. The New York Times naughtily adds that it’s a place Molly can “romp with a steer named Wexler.”

“She is here with her new boyfriend,” Rex Farr, co-owner of the Farrm (correct spelling) told the paper. “She can eat some good organic hay and hang around with a lot of her friends.” 

Said friends include chickens from a crate that fell off a truck on the Tappan Zee Bridge last year, a pony from a defunct 4-H club, Wexler (who is almost 4 years older than Molly, just FYI, and has no horns), plus assorted goats and burros.

Some of the details about Molly’s great escape: reports indicate that a fence intended to corral her between a truck and the slaughterhouse’s cow pens proved no match for her ferocity. Pursued by slaughterhouse employees, she ran about a mile through city streets before she was apprehended by police.

Tags cowsescapesnycfarms

6th May 2009

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This cow ran for her life

The New York Daily News has breaking news about a cow that escaped a slaughterhouse today and hoofed it through Queens.

The cow broke out of Musa Halal Inc. and charged up 109th Avenue in South Jamaica this afternoon, darting through traffic in what the paper calls “a desperate attempt not to become barbecue.” One witness described the animal with these choice words: “It was bugging.”

The incident provided an excuse for the following literary flourishes: “bolting bovine,” “fleet-footed hoofer” and “break-away beef.”

Eventually, cops cornered the cow and tranquilized it. Even then, it reportedly managed to head-butt the butcher a few more times before being guided into a trailer.

Update: the New York Times’ City Room blog reports that at 3:30 p.m., police delivered the cow to a Brooklyn shelter operated by Animal Care and Control (where it was determined once and for all that the cow is a lady). An Animal Control spokesman says, “Our medical department is evaluating her. We got it set up so she has hay and water and all that good stuff.”

Even better, the spokesman says the agency has been in touch with Farm Sanctuary, a vegan farm in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York that takes in loose animals from NYC, and the cow won’t be going back to the slaughterhouse.

Further update: The cow has been named Molly!

Tags cowsescapesNYC

3rd April 2009

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These calves stayed dry

Early this week, North Dakota rancher Chad Skretteberg (r.) hauled 32 calves, weighing 80 to 120 pounds each, out of his flooded barn.

Trouble started late Sunday night when floodwaters from the Heart River poured into Skretteberg’s calving barn at his dad’s homestead. Soon, the water was a foot deep. Loren Skretteberg, the dad, first tried to load the calves into the cargo bed of his ATV, but the deep water killed the engine as he backed up to the barn.

Skretteberg Jr. went in and carried the calves out on his shoulders, one by one. “They would never have walked through that foot of water,” he explains to the AP. “I was trudging through the water with calf-high rubber boots [ed.’s note: different kind of calf] - those were plumb full of water. Then, when I would step off that threshold I’d drop another foot, and I was in water over my knees.” Plus, he notes, electricity was still running to the building - danger!

All the calves were delivered to a pen on higher ground, and all survived. “I don’t know how he did it,” said Loren Skretteberg, whose son is 5-foot-10 and some 185 pounds, i.e. not built for calf-lugging. We say, thank moo.

Tags calvescowsbaby animalsheroism