Yvonne the Cow

So yesterday afternoon while I put my feet up to rest my back for half an hour - yes, bad backs are the pits - I turned on the TV for some mindless viewing and found a program featuring animal escapes. I thought someone must have bundled some videos of dubious quality together and it was showing as a filler. Turns out I was wrong and it was much better than all those excruciating so-called "funniest" video programs which largely feature people being hurt in various ways.

There were all sorts of animals like rhinos and baboons escaping from all sorts of enclosures and then we had Yvonne the cow from Bavaria. In 2011 Yvonne took off into the forest where, for 98 days, she evaded capture by the police, searchers (including farmers and animal rights activists) on foot, horseback, quad bike and in helicopters and hunters (the authorities issued a shoot to kill order but had to withdraw it due to public outcry). Even a bull being brought to the area didn't entice her - which is odd because, when she was eventually recaptured, she was found to have a cyst that was causing her to be permanently on heat. Obviously he wasn't her type.

Yvonne became so popular that a song was written about her and steadily made its way up the charts. Not a great work of art perhaps but the chorus is certainly catchy and the singers had a lot of fun with it. Have a listen. Then there's this.

Yvonne is now living at an animal sanctuary where the owner says she will live out her days.