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2025-07-20
15-02-2018
The cow escaped from transport to the slaughterhouse. It lives on the islands of Lake Nysa.
For three weeks, a Limousin cow has been living on islands in Lake Nysa. It escaped from a transport to a slaughterhouse. Even firefighters in a motorboat were unable to catch it.
"The purchasing staff were taking her out of my barn and into the car. I pointed her out, saying they carry tranquilizers, but they said they weren't taking her out like that. The three others got into the car without a problem, but this one, as soon as it was out of the barn, struggled, someone released the ropes, and she ran away. She knocked over a metal mesh fence. She crashed into it with such fury that the steel posts flew into the air. And she ran through the fields and forest to the lake," recalls Mr. Łukasz, a farmer from the village of Buków in the Otmuchów commune.
A major cow escape occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The collection point employees got into their car and drove away without paying for the fugitive. Mr. Łukasz and the employee then set off to search for the cow.
"We followed her to the lake," the farmer recounts. "On the shore, the worker tried to grab a rope, and then she attacked him. She grabbed her horns, knocked her down, and then pinned her to the ground. She suffered a broken arm and bruised ribs. The cow then entered the water and swam to a neighboring island. I saw her diving underwater."
The cow is six years old and is a popular Limousin beef breed. She weighs about 900 kilograms, so she has a lot of strength. Cows of this breed are kept free-range all winter, unaffected by snow or freezing temperatures. The cow is quite valuable, so the owner spent the next week trying to catch her.
For the first two days, she attacked people, but she didn't harm anyone because everyone approached her with respect," says Mr. Łukasz. "After a week, we gave up chasing her. Now she prowls along the lakeshore between Bukowo and Siestrzechowice. No one can catch her in the blackthorns and thickets, and the area is full of deer and wild boars. I take her food out every day, and I can see from her tracks that she's eating it."
A week later, a gravel pit worker in Wójcice spotted a lone cow on the shore of the island from a barge. He called the fire department to help the animal, saying it would probably die without anyone to help it. Firefighters deployed a motorboat to the rescue.
"Firefighters spotted a cow or bull standing up to its body in the water," says Paweł Gotkowski, deputy district fire chief in Nysa. "When the cow saw the people, it returned to the island." When firefighters disembarked, a cow on the other side of the island entered the water and swam about 50 meters to the adjacent peninsula. The animal was very frightened and could not be approached closer than 70 meters, but it was in good condition.
So far, the only result of the search is a ticket the cow's owner received from the police for failing to supervise the animal. Łukasz contacted Nysa veterinarian Dr. Jacek Opara, who has been equipped with a so-called Palmer shotgun for several years. Its bullets can stun animals. The problem is, the vet ran out of gas cartridges for the tranquilizer darts and is waiting for a new shipment. This could take a few days.
"This is going to be quite a safari. I can't imagine this," says Dr. Jacek Opara. "To shoot effectively, I have to get at least 20 meters from the animal, and the dart has to penetrate thick skin. The drug won't work immediately either. A cow once attacked me before the drug took effect. Luckily, people were around and managed to chase it away."
The owner is also considering applying for permission to have the cow shot by hunters, but then he will incur losses because the animal won't be sold.
Meanwhile, the black bear is thriving in the wild. Just like the now-famous cow from Hajnówka in the Białowieża Forest, which escaped from its owner in early November and joined a bison herd.
