Udderly heart-warming.
A cow that escaped an Arizona slaughterhouse was saved by a nearby sanctuary and dozens of online animal lovers who together raised money to stop the gentle lady from landing on a dinner plate.
The bovine, affectionately named Mootilda, made the death-defying escape last month and trotted for miles without stopping.
She was eventually captured and shipped right back to a meat processing facility, but her brief moments of freedom filmed and photographed by confounded locals were enough to win over the hearts of animal lovers near and far.
Animal sanctuary owner Aimee Takaha called the slaughterhouse where Mootilda was shipped, just four miles away from her organization, and petitioned to save the cow’s life.
“I thought she’s so remarkable, and how awful for her to be brought back to that place,” Takaha told The Washington Post.
The slaughterhouse was able to connect her with the client who was set to receive Mootilda. He offered her a deal: $2,500 for the cow within 24 hours, or else she would be “processed” like the rest of her bovine brethren.
Mootilda’s new owner told the outlet that he loves and respects animals and was more than willing to fork the cow over for the right price, even though he was “taking a loss” of profit.
Takaha, though, didn’t have the funds readily available, so she put out a call for help on social media.
“It is worth a try. Maybe we can come together and save this animal whose will to live is extraordinary. And if we cant, well, it will be a sad day, at least we tried,” she wrote in an impassioned plea on Facebook.
Within hours, online donors surpassed the goal, she said.
The cow-a-thon was so successful that trolls online tried to copy Takaha’s Venmo username to snag the donations from any good Samaritans who didn’t check the handle closely enough.
Within a day, Mootilda was safely delivered to Takaha’s sanctuary and has been frolicking around with her new penpals, Adorabull, Moona Lisa and Moothias, ever since.
Mootilda has also packed on some much-needed pounds, as she was rather emaciated ahead of her scheduled slaughter. The owner warned that Mootilda might even be pregnant, since she’d been exposed to a bull unsupervised a few months earlier and had previously given birth to a few calves.
The skittish “grass puppy” was reluctant to even step near Takaha for weeks, but is now inching towards overcoming her “trust issues” and even permitted a few reluctant chin scratches, according to updates on the sanctuary’s Facebook.
Takaha’s sanctuary houses about 60 other animals ranging from chickens to alpacas. She also has a miniature zebra.
Her menagerie is complete with many elderly animals who have been neglected or disabled, including a three-legged rabbit.
Some animals she’s taken in were left outside or even chained to the gates of her sanctuary with nothing but a note.
“People are very vain about their animals, they want them to be perfect. But to me, they’re absolutely perfect when they’re less perfect,” Takaha said.
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