Escaped cow gets second chance from sanctuary after capture on Brooklyn streets
CANARSIE, Brooklyn (WABC) -- An escaped cow seen on video running through the streets of Brooklyn is getting a second chance at life following her capture.
The 4-month-old calf will live at Skylands Animal Sanctuary in New Jersey after her escape from a slaughterhouse.
The calf was first spotted near East 96th Street and Avenue L on Tuesday afternoon. It somehow escaped a vehicle just outside a slaughterhouse in Canarsie.
"The people from the slaughterhouse, they were trying to lasso it and get it into the truck, but she was feisty, she didn't want to go," said Vincent Fontana, owner of Original Pizza.
It took a few minutes for it to be rounded up again and placed back into that vehicle.
This took a lot of effort from people who happened to be on Avenue L working.
The guys seen on video in blue t-shirts work for Original Pizza on Avenue L. They recorded the video that captured the cow, loose and trotting down the streets. People could be seen running around trying to get the cow to stop.
The young cow did initially go back to the slaughterhouse a few blocks away, but there was public outcry that she should be spared.
"We immediately jumped in the truck and started heading towards Brooklyn," Mike Stura said.
Stura runs the Skylands Animal Sanctuary, which is where many animals are living out their lives after being spared, following a dramatic escape like this one in the city. He called the slaughterhouse.
He said although they were initially hesitant to give them the cow, they later agreed.
Stura says there's something about the one animal that fights to survive that people identify with.
"Even slaughterhouse workers over the years that have given me animals, much bigger animals than this one, and have taken a much bigger financial hit and have said to me that they're happy the animal came with me," Stura said. "They are happy to see one live. You know, even the people in the slaughterhouses."
"I think she deserves it. I think she earned it," Fontana said.
ALSO READ | Elderly dog euthanized hours after escaping from owner's yard in Queens
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