Cow that got loose in NYC will not be slaughtered

A cow that made a daring escape from a Queens slaughterhouse the day before it was scheduled to be killed has been saved.

“We are so happy to let everyone know that Freddie, the brave cow who escaped from a live market in Queens yesterday, was rescued by Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue [in Wantage,New Jersey]. Thanks for all your calls, concern, and love for him, “Woodstock Farm Sanctuary posted on Facebook Friday morning with a photo of Freddie on the way to the vet to get a check up.

The formerly nameless cow made headlines Thursday afternoon after it was reportedlyspotted running around the streets of JamaicanearJamaica Avenue and Merrick Boulevard.

J. Peter Donald, the director of communications for the NYPD, tweeted around noonthat there was a cow on the loose and Twitter went crazy. The department finally tweeted proof afterthe creature was captured a little over an hour later. No injuries were reported.

According to DNA Info, the cow escaped froma halal slaughterhouse in Jamaica, near where it was caught.

DNA added that the cow’s taste of freedom was brief, as it wasstill scheduled to be slaughtered Friday.

“Tomorrow, we’ll kill it,” Archer Halal Live Poultry employee Adad Deopersaud told DNA. “Every Friday we kill animals.”

But the animal got a last minute stay of execution.

A petition was even started on change.org called “Save Scared Cow From Slaughter in Jamaica Queens” that called for the animal to be kept alive.

“On January 21st 2016 a terrified Cow escaped from a slaughter house in Jamaica, Queens. This is not the first incident of an animal escaping from this slaughter house. I am asking the slaughter house to spare this cow from it’s slaughter which is planned to happen tomorrow. An employee working for the slaughter house states “Tomorrow, we’ll kill it…Every friday we kill”. This cow was seconds away from freedom, this is our chance to give it a voice and another chance. Please sign the petition in hopes of sparing this terrified cows life & sending it to a Farm Sanctuary,” it reads, and had 897 supporters as of Friday morning.

It wasn’t clear how the petition may have swayed the animal sanctuary into rescuing the bovine, but it does seem fair after, according to DNA, police officers from Jamaica’s 103rd Precinct just paid $40 to save a babygoat that had also ran away from a slaughterhouse.