Last summer a 3-year-old cow named Betsy (not the one in the photo; that's a stock image I used because our content management system doesn't allow us to post something without an image) somehow escaped from a rodeo in Alaska and went to a 4,000-acre park on the outskirts of Anchorage. She's been spotted many times in the park by hikers and bicyclists, but so far no one has been able to capture her.
“I’m just totally exhausted from looking day in and day out,” Frank Koloski, Betsy’s owner, told The Washington Post on Tuesday night. “She’s a go-getter, that’s for sure.”
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Koloski has a plan in place: If he can just figure out where Betsy is hiding, he’ll bring several other cows to that location. Betsy will immediately rush toward the other cattle, he predicts, and a number of his rodeo acquaintances have already volunteered to help him rope her. Until he knows exactly where she’s located, though, he’s not eager to let the other cows loose in the dense, dark woods.
In the meantime, Betsy appears to be doing just fine. Alaska cattle are tough and accustomed to the area’s harsh winters, Koloski said. Since the park is within city limits, he doesn’t think there’s too much of a risk of her running into a bear or a wolf. There are still plenty of natural sources of water that haven’t frozen over, and he’s left out hay bales and mineral salt blocks nearby. During the summer, Betsy would have found plenty of fresh grass on the slopes of the ski area to feast on, he said. And even once the snow started falling, there were still patches of green grass to be found under the overhang of the trees.
“It’s a cow’s dream,” he said.
Image: A young Hereford steer (bullock) grazing in a snow covered grass field. By Delmas Lehman/Shutterstock
