Millions of cows are killed worldwide every year but one cow in Poland refused to be part of this statistic and staged an impossible escape.
Beef is a staple food in many of the world’s countries with the meat used in a variety of dishes. It’s estimated that 39 million cattle and calves are killed for food each year in the US alone, with that number rising to the hundreds of millions worldwide. One particular cow in Poland, however, refused to be resigned to its fate as food and staged quite the miraculous escape.
The Independent reports that the cow in question belonged to a Polish farmer who has been referred to in local media as just Mr. Lukasz, who said that the animal has been living on an island alone and attacking anyone who tries to come near it since staging its break out.
The cow staged a miraculous escape (Source: Facebook)
Lukasz says the cow made its escape last month, after first refusing to get into a lorry which was set to take it to a slaughterhouse. It then broke through a nearby metal fence and swam to relative safety at an island in the nearby Nyskie Lake in the town of Nysa.
According to Polish news show Wiadomosci, when Lukasz attempted to get the cow back to the farm, it broke the arm and bruised the ribs of the farm worker trying to catch her. He says he and his workers tried without success for a week to get the cow back but eventually gave up and are now feeding her to ensure she does not starve on the island.
The cow swam to safety to an island on Lake Nyskie (Source: Wikipedia)
Said to be frightened but healthy, firefighters from the town failed to get the cow back on land as well, with the animal reportedly swimming to a nearby peninsula on the lake when they attempted to intercept her. A veterinarian who was called to tranquilize the animal failed to do so as well, claiming he had run out of gas cartridges that would pacify the cow.
Exasperated, Lukasz considered having the animal put down, but was stopped by a political leader in the town who proclaimed the animal would live out the rest of its life in peace. Paweł Kukiz, a former singer turned politician offered to pay to have the cow’s life spared from death.
In a Facebook post, he wrote about the cow’s escape from first, the farmer, and later the firefighters and the veterinarian. He claimed that while he was not a vegetarian, he would ‘fight for the life of this cow,’ first seeing to it that it was taken to a safe place, and then guaranteed ‘a long-term retirement and natural death.’
He wrote that the Opole Zoo could not take the animal in even if it was guaranteed sponsorship because of a rule where it belongs to the ‘unit-approved’ EU countries and thus could accept only unit-approved animals because they would lose money.
Kukiz says he plans to buy the cow (Source: Facebook)
He claims he finally managed to get through to the farmer’s sister and has vowed to buy the cow for its price of 8,000-9,000 zlotys ($2,394 – $2,693 USD). Kukiz says he is paying for a vet who would tranquilize her for transport to a stable where she is guaranteed safety until she is sent to a new home.
Kukiz promises to keep his followers informed about any further activities and that he hopes they will be able to provide the cow a worthy stay until the end of her days. He ends his long post with a criticism of the country’s ‘absurd animal regulations’ which prevented the cow from being accepted into the zoo while at the same time, praising the zoo’s goodwill.
Twitter reacted gleefully to news of the heroic animal’s escape.