Saturday 24 December 2011

"A Christmas cow story"

From castanet.net:

Lady Antebellum is one lucky cow. After nine months alone, wandering the wilds of... Vancouver, Lady Antebellum is now enjoying the much more pastoral setting of the Critteraid Farm in Summerland.

The story begins last March when motorists in the Lower Mainlaind complained to the RCMP about a cow that was seen near the freeway. Despite their best efforts, the young Angus cow eluded capture. She ended up in a Surrey park bog and at one time she was seen under the Port Mann Bridge, all the while avoiding coyotes, vicious dogs, and humans.

She found some vegetation through to the Fall, then concerned park walkers started feeding her so she would not starve to death. She was nicknamed Nellie by some and April by others...

On December 19, they managed to get Lady Antebellum into a corral to allow her to become calm enough to be transferred to a safer location. It took a couple of tries to get her loaded. The first attempt ending spectacularly, as she bolted and literally went airborne over a huge rock. Finally, last Wednesday, the CDART transport trailer came from Summerland, loaded her up and had her on the way to a safe sanctuary for the rest of her life.


It's funny isn't it, as long as animals and doing what they are supposed to do, people are quite happy to kill them and eat them (and as a meat eater, that applies to me as well), but if an animal ever manages to escape (or behaves otherwise out of the ordinary), people will go to inordinate lengths to recapture them and then put them in a sanctuary where there's no question of them being slaughtered. I mean, that story wouldn't look right if it ended up with the cow being sold to a butcher.

8 comments:

TheFatBigot said...

Why aren't female Angus cattle known as Agnes (or whatever the female equivalent is of Angus)?

Merry Christmas Mr W.

Mark Wadsworth said...

TFB, that is a very good question indeed. Perhaps we should write to MAFF? And a merry Xmas to you as well!

formertory said...

In most First World countries I think it's true to say that a food animal wouldn't be butchered after capture because it's been outside the traceability systems.

What a very good job all that malarkey doesn't apply to deer.

Mark Wadsworth said...

FT, it does seem a bit daft. They are a bit more brutal about it in Germany, they usually recapture escaped cattle after a couple of hours and they are then sent to the butcher. Although Elsa and Yvonne received free pardons after being on the run for weeks or months.

Electro-Kevin said...

What is it with you and cows ???

Happy Christmas.

E-K

UKIP-BW said...

Merry Christmas to you all.

http://www.westbournemouthukip.com/

Alex Cull said...

"... but if an animal ever manages to escape", etc.

True, and the ultimate example of this surely has to be the following one. As the Guardian put it:

"Her mother died before her eyes, she never knew her father, and she was condemned to death at five days old. But this plucky little heifer didn't know when to give up... and made a government change its mind".

Phoenix the Calf!

Merry Xmas, all!

JuliaM said...

Hope you're having a great Christmas!

Turkey, or beef? ;)