MNN - Mother Nature Network

A cow that escaped from an abattoir in Croatia has won the right to life as its owners have decided to spare it, a local daily reported on Saturday.

 

The heifer, that fled the slaughterhouse in the northern town of Ivanec 12 days ago, was tracked down in a nearby meadow by Mladen Markovic, the Vecernji List reported.

 

"It's a nice young cow," said Markovic, who had his eyes on a $410 reward offered by the abattoir for locating the beast, which has since again slipped through the net.

 

"In its fight for life the heifer won the sympathy of the whole nation so we have decided to spare it," Filip Dragovic, of the Farmaland company that owns the 15-month-old animal, told the daily.

 

Once caught, it will be put out to pasture with plenty of food until its old age, he assured.

 

"It will never go under the knife as it fought for its life."

 

Copyright 2010  AFP Global Edition