Williamson County Sheriff Deluged With Pleas To Save Wayward Cow, Calf

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — In the world we live in, it's often lost animals that garner the most concern from the public. Such was the case Monday in Williamson County, where the sheriff's office was deluged with messages from residents worried a pair of wayward bovines might end up as someone's dinner if efforts to find their owner were unsuccessful.

After numerous please for "Liberty" and her equally errant calf be saved from the slaughterhouse, Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody agreed Monday afternoon to have the animals moved to an animal sanctuary. Throughout the weekend, the cow and her calf had been wandering around the Wolf Ranch neighborhood in Georgetown amid a housing development still under construction, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

One resident told the newspaper she's seen the Williamson County cow walking around free since July, and she's worried it might get hit by a car.

Concern over the wayward animals grew after two animal rights groups — In Defense of Animals and the Rowdy Girl Sanctuary — issued press releases saying the sheriff's office planned to round up the creatures and send them to slaughter.

"Activists Urge Texas Sheriff To Save Liberty the Free-Living Cow And Her Baby," the headline on the Rowdy Girl Sanctuary press release blared. In Defense of Animals used the same headline for its own press release, explaining the nature of their life-saving mission to save the nomadic creatures.

"Two animal protection organizations are calling on a Texas Sheriff to grant mercy to a free-roaming cow and her calf," the advisory breathlessly conveyed. "The Williamson County Sheriff’s office plans to round up ‘Liberty’ and her calf today, Monday, October 9, and sell them at auction for meat. In Defense of Animals and Rowdy Girl Sanctuary are offering a permanent home for the cows and payment for transport costs. Citizens are urged to call the Sheriff's Department to save Liberty and her calf."

Rowdy Girls Sanctuary founder Renee King-Sonner claimed she had spoken to sheriff's officials who told her of plans to auction the animals for their meat, the Statesman reported. In a later missive, she sounded more confident about their their survival after her turn at Central Texas bovine diplomacy.

"Thanks to your support, the Williamson County Sheriff Office pledged to work with us to #SaveLiberty the cow and her baby, who will be held for 18 days while we await any potential claims on their lives. We applaud Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody for his compassion! We will collaborate on this rescue with his team and with Rowdy Girl Sanctuary, providing a safe forever home to Liberty and her babe. Stay tuned for updates... "

But sheriff's officials countered they had never inferred the cows were destined for the grill. Instead, a sheriff's office spokeswoman said she explained the protocol of keeping the animals for 18 days to give enough time for their owners to claim them before they can be transferred to a different location.

On his Facebook page, Chody clearly has been bombarded with pleas from the cow's protectors as evidenced by the uneven grammar of his post: "2 clean up the bad info put out by others. we don’t have a in our cow possession. We are not putting a cow to market. Stop emails"

The beasts are now destined for the Rowdy Girl Sanctuary in Angleton, Texas, located some 40 miles south of Houston. Sonner-King has booked a hotel room in Georgetown, where she'll stay until she's able to help coordinate the animals' transfer. In the meantime, she recorded the television news accounts of her rescue mission documenting rescue mission.

So for the homeless cows, all's well that ends well. But for Chody and his office staff, it was one udderly taxing Monday.

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