Cow On Loose For 4 Months Found Safe: 'We Waited For Her'

MANORVILLE, NY — A cow that escaped a Manorville farm four months ago has been found safe on the golf course near where she went missing.

The Strong Island Animal Rescue League, who has been searching for the cow, wrote on Facebook: "Four months ago she escaped . . . She has been on the loose since."

Thanks to the efforts of Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in New Jersey, K-9 Search and Rescue, and Strong Island Animal Rescue, she was found Wednesday, the page said. "The three teams —four people — working together for one goal," the page read.

Frankie Floridia of the Strong Island Animal Rescue League told Patch cameras have been set up around the Manorville golf course where the cow went missing.

He called Mike Stura of the Skylands Sanctuary — who, he said, also corralled Barney the Bull, who was missing on Long Island last year — and Stura set up a feeding station and other equipment.

"We watched those cameras every day," Floridia said.

K-9 Seach and Rescue also came every day to leave food.

"We waited in our cars," Floridia said. "We sat out there for many nights with no heat in the car, not speaking. We just waited for her. And last night, it finally happened."

Stura and he pulled the ropes to capture the cow, who will now be named Vienna — and she was corralled into a trailer.

"Mike is bringing her back to the Skylands Sanctuary where she will be spending the rest of her life," he said. "That's the second cow he has rescued on Long Island."

The cow, he said, was in the woods the whole time. "We've been watching her for about 30 days now," Floridia said.

When asked how it felt to rescue the cow, Floridia expressed joy. "It feels absolutely amazing," he said. "It was a great team effort. We want to thank Skylands for thanking two of Long Island's cows."

Strong Island Animal Rescue League also thanked the Suffolk County Police Department's 7th Precinct for all the tips and help. "Teamwork saved her," he said.

The cow was first reported missing in September after escaping from a Manorville farm in August, according to Floridia in a previous interview.

Floridia said the cow escaped the farm on August 27. Floridia had a video that showed her on the golf course. "She's running loose," he said.

Floridia, of Port Jefferson, said at the time that he believed the cow has been hiding in the woods for weeks.

Now that she's captured, Floridia said the owner had signed paperwork surrendering her to the rescue group, "so we can assure her a great life once found," he said.

The cow weighs about 750 lbs., he said.

Louie Zollo, whose father Jerry owns Jerry's Farm, said, when she first went missing, that the cow "broke loose in August. We have no idea where she is. I hope we find her."

He confirmed that once the cow — who was not intended for slaughter but was considered a pet on the farm, he said — was found, he and his father would surrender the cow to Strong Island Animal Rescue League, a not-for-profit organization and brought to Skylands.

Speaking with Patch Thursday about the rescue, Zollo said it was "awesome. When Floridia called him, Zollo told him it was a "beautiful thing. I asked him when they were going to bring her to the sanctuary and they told me she's en route right now. I'm very happy, because the winter was coming. Every day I was worrying about where she was."

Friends, Zollo said, had seen cow droppings on the golf course, so he knew all hope was not lost.

"My whole family is very, very happy," Zollo said. "We were going to breed here here, but it's okay — she's going to live a nice, long life at the sanctuary now."

It's not the first time an animal has made a run for it on Long Island.

Barney, a bull on the loose last year, escaped slaughter on a different a Manorville farm and was on the lam for weeks, running through a Mastic neighborhood and inspiring memes and much media attention until he was found in September.

The young bull on the lam was found on a former duck farm in Moriches, and now resides at Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue, where the cow will also be brought once found, Floridia said.