thecow a folk hero
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By Barry M. Horstman, Post staff reporter
cincypost.com
For days, it's been perhaps the most mooooo-ving story in Cincinnati.
In a week filled with major news - the execution of a Cincinnatian for the first time in nearly a half century, black entertainers' boycott of the city and the countless feel-good stories of the Olympics - tri-staters are preoccupied, of all things, with a missing cow.
No bull.
Since escaping from a local slaughterhouse by jumping a 6-foot fence at Ken Meyer Meats in Camp Washington Feb. 15, the 1,200-pound cow has become daily fodder for radio talk shows, TV newscasts and office chatter.
Curious onlookers peer toward a heavily wooded area in Clifton where an escaped cow is believed to be hiding. (MELVIN GRIER/The Post)
Dubbed Moosama Bin Laden by one DJ, the cow has evaded police and officials from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals while crossing Central Parkway and entering Mount Storm Park in Clifton, where it was last spotted by one TV station's helicopter ''Cow Cam.''
''The problem is, this is a free-range cow that isn't going to come to any human,'' said SPCA general manager Harold Dates. ''And when you weigh 1,200 pounds, you can pretty much go anywhere you want to go.''
At City Hall and from coast to coast, where CNN and other news outlets have chronicled the four-hooved fugitive's run for freedom, the cow's fame grows daily.
If and when the runaway 7-year-old cow is captured, Mayor Charlie Luken plans to give it the key to the city. In the meantime, WLW-AM talk-show host Bill Cunningham, never shy about doing anything to beef up ratings, will continue referring to it as Charlene Mooken, while his counterparts have settled on nicknames ranging from Heidi to Bessie.
Everyone from Marge Schott to Fifth Third Bank has offered to do whatever it takes to prevent the cow from ending up on a hamburger bun, the latter by offering the cow a starring role in its next ''Holy Cow'' home-equity loan ad campaign.
Similarly, Chick-Fil-A, a fast-food restaurant that features a cow in ads urging people to steer clear of red meat, is offering 100 free chicken sandwiches to whoever catches the cow.
Frustrated in their repeated attempts to lure the light-colored Charolais out of Mount Storm Park's thick underbrush, officials Thursday devised a new strategy: using three other cows as bovine bait to draw the cow into a corraled area.
Today, officials - professing no fear that the scheme could backfire and leave four cows on the loose - plan to truck in the new cows and place them in an area contained within about 30 10-foot temporary fence sections. Water and food also will be set out to make it look like there's a big cow party going on inside.
If the cow falls for the trap, officials will swing the gate on a happy ending to the saga. If not, they'll move on to Plan B: trying to bring her down with a tranquilizer dart, a far less attractive option that requires carefully hauling a 1,200-pound animal out of a hilly, brush-covered site.
Until the cow is captured, police plan to close Mount Storm Park to the public. In recent days, the cow has been spooked not only by the joggers and dog-walkers who routinely use the park, but by dozens of gawkers who have come to watch the man - er, cowhunt.
The major concern of Cincinnati police, said Lt. Kurt Byrd, is preventing the cow from wandering onto nearby Interstate 75. ''If a 2,000-pound car runs into a (1,200)-pound cow, it might be pretty ugly,'' Byrd said.
Assuming the cow is safely recovered, it will have earned a permanent reprieve from the grim fate that awaited it last week at Meyer Meats.
''There's no doubt this cow will be living the rest of its life in the most comfortable situation that can be provided,'' said the SPCA's Dates.
Whether that is on Mrs. Schott's estate or some other farm remains to be determined. Regardless, it's an udderly satisfying way to wrap up the story.
As Byrd pointed out, contrasted with the decidedly unpleasant local, national and international stories that have dominated the past year, the missing cow tale comes off as a welcome respite for Greater Cincinnatians weary of bad news. ''If this is our major news story,'' he said, ''it speaks pretty well for Cincinnati.''
Publication date: 02-22-02
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Decoys join effort to rustle rambling cow
Saturday, February 23, 2002
enquirer.com
Escaped bovine still roaming Mount Storm Park
By Randy McNutt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
They tracked her by helicopter, on horseback and on foot, but the cavorting cow of Clifton still managed to elude authorities around Mount Storm Park on Friday.
“This show is better than the soaps,” said Sally Schreiber, who lives nearby; but, like most people, she hasn't seen the elusive bovine.
A coral, complete with live decoys and feed, was set up in Mount Storm Park on Friday to lure the cow that escaped from a Camp Washington slaughterhouse on Feb. 15.
(Ernest Coleman photo)
| ZOOM |
On Feb. 15, the cream-and-brown cow, bred and raised in Lexington, escaped from a slaughterhouse in Camp Washington — supposedly by jumping a fence. She found refuge in the park, about three miles away.
Since then, the 1,500-pound cow has become a media star.
“I saw it on some wooded property near the Cincinnati Woman's Club on Lafayette,” said Bob Dyrenforth, who lives on Amazon Street. “It was headed back toward Mount Storm about 8:10 a.m. (Friday).
“It was a lot bigger than I had expected. It was not grazing, just racing at a good clip.”
Authorities hope to tranquilize her before she harms herself or motorists in the busy area, not far from Central Parkway and Ludlow Avenue — and within earshot of Interstate 75.
Hamilton County SPCA officials; the Ohio Division of Forestry; and Ken Meyer Meats, which operates the slaughterhouse, are assisting with the search.
Authorities on Friday tried a new tactic: setting up a corral, with two other cows and some grain, to lure her into the open.
But Miamitown farmer Denny Dowers, who has volunteered to help, said all the attention has scared the cow, and she might not come out for a day or two.
“The more we leave her alone, the more curious she'll be,” he said. “I'm just backing off and letting them (the other cows) do their thing.”
Steve Bartels, a Butler County extension agent, said that's not a bad idea, “but it might not be as effective as they might hope. Cows do have some herding instinct, so it might be attracted to the others.
“This is not an easy process. ... When you've got helicopters flying around and people chasing it who don't know livestock psychology, it complicates things.”
On Friday, Cincinnati police blocked the park entrance. While the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department's helicopter searched the park from the sky, Park District rangers rode horses in the heavily wooded area. Videographers aimed long lenses into the brush.
“There's a lot of fallen trees around here,” said visitor Tracy Schreiber. “If you're not from around here, you might wonder how a cow could hide. But it's tough to get through.”
Authorities have spent so much time searching for the cow — she's valued at about $450 — because they're afraid she'll wander over to Interstate 75.
A few curious people stopped at the park Friday to try to see the cow, but were turned away at the park entrance.
Kim Allen, of Sayler Park, looked toward a steep embankment and thick brush.
“Now all we need is a horse and a road,” she said. |
