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National
Photo: DPA

Race is on to find escaped cow Yvonne before hunters kill her

Published: 5 Aug 11 10:44 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20110805-36767.html

Animal rights activists are racing to try to find an escaped cow before hunters do - after Bavarian authorities issued an order to get her dead or alive.

The cow, named Yvonne, had been shipped from Austria to her new owner in Aschau, Bavaria on May 24, when she fought her way through an electrified fence and escaped into the woods.

It seemed she would never be seen again - until last week the cow made a big mistake: She ran onto a road and was nearly hit by a police car.

After that, officials decreed that she must be killed for the sake of citizens’ safety, according to the Express newspaper. Two hunters are now roaming the forests trying to track her down.

Animal rights activists are desperately trying to get to her before the hunters do.

Michael Aufhauser said he had bought Yvonne for €700 from her owner - who had planned to slaughter her anyway – and wants to take her to an animal reserve where she will be able to live out her days in peace.

Yvonne is smart enough to only make occasional, evening forays out of the forest to graze, leading those trying to find her to dub her, ‘the cow who wants to be a deer’.

"We underestimate the sense of the animals. This cow is smarter than a deer,” Aufhauser told Express.

“I’ve never experienced such a case before."

He and a group of cow friends have bought Yvonne’s relatives from her original base in Austria - her sister called Waltraud and a calf – ‘little Waldi’ – and have brought them to the area to try to tempt Yvonne out of the woods.

Yvonne reportedly visited Waltraud under the cover of darkness on Thursday night - but disappeared into the woods again before her would-be rescuers could capture her.

After a few days of searching through the forest with up to 14 people in the rain, the cow friends are now also using high tech methods to try to track her down, deploying heat-sensitive cameras to try to find her. They have also brought in experts with tranquiliser guns to help in the hunt.

The race is on between the hunters and the cow-friends to find Yvonne first.

This is not the first time Bavarian authorities have issued a shoot-to-kill order on a roaming animal. In 2006, a bear called Bruno – initially welcome as the first brown bear on German soil in 170 years, was shot and killed after he killed several sheep in the state. His body was subsequently stuffed and can now be seen at a Munich museum.

The Local/DPA/mdm

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

12:02 August 5, 2011 by marimay
They really do not have much respect for animals here. The only wild animals I ever see are the ones who have been hit by cars. Too many people, too many roads. The paragraph about the bear is particularly upsetting.
12:40 August 5, 2011 by lordkorner
Fat and docile, big and dumb

They look so stupid, they aren't much fun

Cows aren't fun

They eat to grow, grow to die

Die to be et at the hamburger fry

Cows well done

Nobody thunk it, nobody knew

No one imagined the great cow guru

Cows are one

He hid in the forest, read books with great zeal

He loved Che Guevera, a revolutionary veal

Cow Tse Tongue

He spoke about justice, but nobody stirred

He felt like an outcast, alone in the herd

Cow doldrums

He mooed we must fight, escape or we'll die

Cows gathered around, cause the steaks were so high

Bad cow pun

But then he was captured, stuffed into a crate

Loaded onto a truck, where he rode to his fate

Cows are bummed

He was a scrawny calf, who looked rather woozy

No one suspected he was packing an Uzi

Cows with guns

They came with a needle to stick in his thigh

He kicked for the groin, he pissed in their eye

Cow well hung

Knocked over a tractor and ran for the door

Six gallons of gas flowed out on the floor

Run cows run!

He picked up a bullhorn and jumped up on the hay

We are free roving bovines, we run free today

We will fight for bovine freedom

And hold our large heads high

We will run free with the Buffalo, or die

Cows with guns

They crashed the gate in a great stampede

Tipped over a milk truck, torched all the feed

Cows have fun

Sixty police cars were piled in a heap

Covered in cow pies, covered up deep

Much cow dung

Black smoke rising, darkening the day

Twelve burning McDonalds, have it your way

We will fight for bovine freedom

And hold our large heads high

We will run free with the Buffalo, or die

Cows with guns

The President said "enough is enough

These uppity cattle, its time to get tough"

Cow dung flung

The newspapers gloated, folks sighed with relief

Tomorrow at noon, they would all be ground beef

Cows on buns

The cows were surrounded, they waited and prayed

They mooed their last moos,

they chewed their last hay

Cows out gunned

The order was given to turn cows to whoppers

Enforced by the might of ten thousand coppers

But on the horizon surrounding the shoppers

Came the deafening roar of chickens in choppers

We will fight for bovine freedom

And hold our large heads high

We will run free with the Buffalo, or die

Cows with guns

Send "Cows With Guns" ringtone to your cell

lyrics submitted by jen

Read more: http://artists.letssingit.com/dennis-leary-lyrics-cows-with-guns-5xn28md#ixzz1U9Lm4nAn

LetsSingIt - Your favorite Music Community
15:18 August 5, 2011 by zeddriver
Wow! I had no idea cows were so dangerous that German authorities would put out a mafia contract on it.

Could be that this cow is related to the killer rabbit from Monty Pythons search for the holy Grail. Which means no expense should be spared in the eradication of this hideous radicalized bovine beast. I think the united nations should issue a resolution giving Germany permission to launch a Luftwaffe offensive.
18:45 August 5, 2011 by Slingersss
This is very disturbing, that Bavaria treats it's animals so badly. The bear story is HORRIBLE, and then they stuffed him and he can be seen at a Museum! Disrespectful and inhumane treatment of animals and wildlife. Remind we to never visit this place....
18:57 August 5, 2011 by DOZ
Go Hunters Go. But please don't waste it making Sausages and Snitzel. Use Google and find some good BBQ Recipes. Stay away from Canadian Recipes as all they know what to do is turn it into McDonalds Hamburgers, and we all know what they taste like. Uhg.
19:37 August 5, 2011 by Jack Kerouac
Those cops should be hunting animal rights activists, not cows. They are more of a danger.
19:40 August 5, 2011 by Gretl
She's a cow, not a grizzly, cougar or even a loose moose. I can't even imagine Bavarians in my home Montana, with free-range cattle, and no barns to put them in. You actually have to fence the cattle OUT of your property if you don't want them in, and you have to keep an eye out for them on the road, just like the deer, elk, big horn sheep, antelope, moose, and bear.
20:20 August 5, 2011 by neunElf
Please my government protect me from any and all possible threats , even imaginary contrived ones!

BTW, how are you doing on that pesky Euro confidence thing?
20:26 August 5, 2011 by farmon
Thumbs up Jack.
21:25 August 5, 2011 by karenandklaus
@ marimay

So totally agree with you. Mankind have become way too egoistic and self-centered. Life only evolves around them. Nothing else has a place in this world/society. As our favourite author - Erich Fromm - has such foresight and insight about Man and Society.
01:49 August 6, 2011 by The-ex-pat
Having read this story and the comments I can only assume that no one here has ever hit a deer or wild bore. Two years ago I totalled my car, after I hit a deer at around 100 kph that decided to cross the road in front of me. Now replace the deer with a ton or so of beef and then we can all have a conversation about why the authorities sat back and let the cow wander around before a family was killed when it stepped our in front of them!
04:22 August 6, 2011 by Gretl
@the-ex-Pat did you even read my post? Yes, we hit the occasional deer. But we also use deer whistles on our cars to help minimize the occurances. They don't use salt on the roads in Montana because HERDS of elk and big horn sheep will fill the road to lick it clean (there is very little natural occuring salt). Try hitting a moose (the size of a horse). Cows don't exactly jump out in front of cars, they are more mosiers.(mosy-ers?), so if you are paying attention, you should be able to miss the poor gal. Now, there was that gal up in Moiese near the National Buffalo Range who was killed when two bull buffalo locked horns and crashed off a short cliff and onto her car. That's about 4400 lbs / 2000 kg of falling free range beef. (The bison were also killed in the freak accident). They need cattle herding dogs to bring her in. Silly Bavarians! They've forgotten how to farm!
08:27 August 6, 2011 by marimay
And hunt apparently....
11:47 August 6, 2011 by harcourt
This cow is getting more attention than Frau Merkel. Mind you Yvonne is a very attractive cow.
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