Updated
Updated · Boing Boing · Jul 20
1,600-Pound Heifer Eludes Slaughter for 40 Days, Becoming Animal Rights Symbol
Updated
Updated · Boing Boing · Jul 20

1,600-Pound Heifer Eludes Slaughter for 40 Days, Becoming Animal Rights Symbol

1 articles · Updated · Boing Boing · Jul 20

Summary

  • Emily, a three-year-old heifer in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, vaulted a five-foot slaughterhouse gate in 1995 and stayed free for 40 days before being captured.
  • Record snowfall did not stop her: she foraged in backyards, sometimes ran with deer, and drew local support from residents who hid and fed her even as police were told to shoot on sight.
  • Caught after losing 500 pounds, Emily was valued at $350 but was bought for $1 by the Randa family and taken to the Peace Abbey sanctuary on Christmas Eve.
  • At the sanctuary she lived eight more years, became a vegetarianism and animal-rights emblem, and after dying of uterine cancer in 2003 was memorialized with a life-sized bronze statue.

Insights

Decades after Emily's escape, why do corporate animal welfare pledges still fall short of actual change, according to recent industry reports?
If Emily escaped today, would new Massachusetts laws protect her from the original shoot-on-sight order?