A €10,000 reward is being offered in Germany for the safe return of a cow called Yvonne who went on the run in May after apparently sensing she was about to be sent to the slaughterhouse.
Yvonne, a six-year-old dairy cow, has, in the words of one newspaper, become “a kind of freedom fighter for the animal-loving German republic” since she escaped from her field in the village of Zangberg, 80km northeast of Munich, on May 24th.
Having been fattened up, she was due to be dispatched when she managed to breach the electric fence surrounding her farm. As word spread of her escape, animal protection activists got involved, incensed that local hunters had been given permission to shoot Yvonne on sight.
Gut Aiderbichl, an animal sanctuary over the Austrian border in Salzburg, agreed to buy Yvonne for €600 and has offered her a paddock with grass to graze on for the rest of her days.
Gut Aiderbichl is pulling out all the stops to catch Yvonne alive.
Last week they enlisted the help of a bull called Ernst to lure her back home.
Ernst has “a deep baritone moo that will appeal to Yvonne”, as well as a particularly manly musk, said the sanctuary’s founder, Michael Aufhauser. “He is the George Clooney of bulls.” Sex is not on the agenda, however, as Ernst is castrated.
Since the German tabloid Bild offered a €10,000 reward for Yvonne’s safe capture on Saturday, the race to find her has heated up.
Mayor of Zangberg Franz Markl said he was delighted Yvonne had decided to go missing during the traditional summer news lull known in Britain as the “silly season” and in Germany as Sauregurkenzeit – literally “sour cucumber time”, a reference to the days when good vegetables are scarce.
“We trained the cow well for the summer [news] vacuum,” Mr Markl told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Now everyone in Germany has heard of our lovely village.”