A CALF BY ANY OTHER NAME....
Baby cow escapes NY slaughterhouse, finds sanctuary in Sussex County

William Westhoven, Morristown Daily Record
Thu, December 23, 2021

A Christmas break is keeping a young cow from becoming a Christmas steak.

A 400-pound Hereford heifer that escaped a slaughterhouse last week in Queens has found refuge at Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue center in Sussex County.

New York Police said the cow, estimated to be nine months old, ran away from an area business last Friday and was corralled by rangers later that day in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

"She will now be spending the holiday season at her new home, a local rescue sanctuary," the NYPD Special Ops Department wrote in a Tweet.

"Only in New York!" they added.

The New York City Parks Department also went to social media to praise its staff who "managed to rescue the cow through quick thinking and action."


Looks like our Urban Park Rangers were in a sentimental Moo-d today," they wrote.

The NYPD dispatched its ESU Truck 10 to assist at the scene.

The next day, Skylands posted that "Stacy" was in temporary quarantine at their 230-acre facility in Wantage.

"Little Stacy is doing well, getting used to us as she awaits test results that will hopefully give her the OK to go in with some other kids," they wrote.

During the quarantine period, "She gets human visitors and can see and hear other cows," they explained. "She just can’t get up close with them."

Young Hereford cow that escaped a Queens, N.Y. slaughterhouse finds a new home at Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue Center in Wantage.

Once Stacy clears quarantine, she will join the approximately 450 other permanent residents at Skylands. The population there includes 93 other cows or bovine creatures, according to director Mike Stura.

The animals have permanent homes at the sanctuary after being rescued "from slaughterhouses, live markets, farms, extreme neglect, abuse, religious ceremonies, abandonment and are even found wandering streets."

"No matter where they are from or from what dire circumstances they escape, they are provided with proper veterinary care, the best foods, water, a safe place to live, eat and sleep as well as lots of love around the clock," Skylands states on its website. "Every animal requires room to run and live unencumbered by the threat of harm and each one gets exactly what they need here."

William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. 

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Slaughterhouse-bound cow finds refuge at Skylands Sanctuary in Wantage