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Wawa woman holds out hope for lone stranded Highway 17 cow

A truck carrying cows to slaughter overturned on May 14 near Wawa. The loose cows have been euthanized, according to OPP, but word in the area is that there is one more
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Loose cows are pictured on the side of Highway 17 after a transport rollover

A rescue effort is underway for what is believed to be the final cow on the loose after a cattle truck rolled over three months ago near Wawa.

While Superior East OPP report that the remaining cows have been euthanized, word locally is that one may yet roam the area, says Emma Blanchet, a Wawa woman who would like to see that cow rescued.

Blanchet said that hope prompted her to search for possible solutions, and if there is a cow out there, it may find a home at Silver Willow Farm Rescue and Sanctuary in Mansfield, Ont. near Barrie.

“(Silver Willow) is willing to take this one cow in and is putting a call out to see if anyone can help,” said Blanchet.

Reached by phone on Thursday, Silver Willow owner Laura MacArthur confirmed she is ready to take in the cow if it can be captured. She currently offers sanctuary to about 300 animals, four of which are cows.

“I absolutely will take the cow and give it a home for 20 or 30 years and will also make arrangements and pay to have it shipped south to us,” said MacArthur. “I am so far away I can’t do it.”

Cows aren’t often thought of as animals that can be rescued, said MacArthur.

“They are worth money dead or alive and most of the time they are worth more money dead so people don’t ask us to help,” she said.

The cows had been grazing near the highway at Old Woman Bay since the cattle truck transporting them rolled into the ditch on May 14. The truck was carrying upwards of 50 cows at the time and all but five were eventually accounted for.

Superior East OPP spokesperson PC Ashley Nickle said it was a third party, not the OPP, that euthanized what OPP believed to be the remaining five cows.

”Most were corralled shortly afterwards by a third party, but a small group of approximately five cows remained outstanding,” said Nickle. “The OPP received numerous calls from passersby reporting the small herd on/near the highway, leading to concerns they were a traffic hazard.”

Blanchet may have witnessed the operation. While on a hike on Aug. 2 at Old Woman Bay she saw the cows along with some men wearing orange vests.

“I saw them on the side of the highway with men who were ready to shoot them,” said Blanchet. “When I came back form my hike they were dead on the side of the road and gutting them right there.”

It wasn’t the first time Blanchet had seen the cows at the side of the highway, a sight that became a bit of a tourist attraction over the past three months.

“They looked so happy, they were healthy in the ditch and looked great. They were sticking together in their little herd. I couldn’t see any visible injuries. They looked happy,” said Blanchet. “Maybe that’s just me saying that because I love animals, but they looked happy.”

Blanchet had hoped a rescue operation would be able to take the cows before they were killed, but finding one that could capture and transport from the remote area of northern Ontario was a challenge.

MacArthur, of Silver Willow, has said on social media that she will take the cow in if someone can safely capture it.

“She is still a domestic cow and hasn’t gone feral yet. It should be fairly easy to pen,” she said. “Once she is in the pen I am sure there are people who will feed and water her and do all the things that need to be done until I can get a truck up there.”

Blanchet hopes that will happen.

“It’s incredible she survived this long and I think she deserves to live a long life now,” said Blanchet.



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Kenneth Armstrong

About the Author: Kenneth Armstrong

Kenneth Armstrong is a news reporter and photojournalist who regularly covers municipal government, business and politics and photographs events, sports and features.
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