Slaughterhouse Escape: PETA Friend Diane Warren Rescues Final Missing Cow
Update: June 25, 2021
On Wednesday, June 23, one of the 40 cows who broke free from a slaughterhouse on Tuesday night and made a frantic run for it through Pico Rivera, California (a Los Angeles suburb), was still missing. But yesterday, she was found at a park roughly seven miles from the facility from which she and her fellow runaways were believed to have escaped. And here’s the news we’ve all been hoping for: She’s safe from slaughter, thanks in large part to Grammy Award–winning songwriter and PETA pal Diane Warren.
Warren stepped in to arrange for the final missing cow to be retired to Farm Sanctuary in California. “[I]t’s almost like she represents all cows wanting to be free,” she said. The “good moos” [emphasis added], as she called it, followed the observation by PETA President Ingrid Newkirk that such consideration should have been offered to all 40 escaped cows from the start:
“These cows’ desperate bid for freedom should have been recognized by moving them to a sanctuary, where they could have bonded with other rescued cows, nursed their calves in peace, and lived out their lives just as you and I hope to do,” Newkirk told media outlets.
If you cheered for these cows’ escape or mourned their certain deaths, do what Newkirk suggests: “[E]xtend that compassion to all cows—and all other animals—by going vegan.”
Originally published on June 23, 2021:
Would you risk it all if your life were on the line? These 40 cows did—they broke free from a slaughterhouse in Pico Rivera, California, yesterday evening and made a frantic run for it through the Los Angeles suburb. Multiple onlookers caught their bid for freedom on camera:
Proving that they didn’t want to be slaughtered, these cows braved busy streets and risked being hit by cars, all to avoid being killed for food—risks they should never have had to take.
“It sounded like thunder,” one local resident reportedly said of the stampede.
According to reports, the cows escaped through a gate that a worker had accidentally left open at the slaughterhouse. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials reportedly advised residents to avoid the neighborhood, but multiple people were apparently injured. One cow ultimately suffered a fate similar to the one she would have if they’d remained at the slaughterhouse—she was shot dead by a sheriff’s deputy, NBC Los Angeles reported.
“[The cow] was frantic, and … seemed more scared than anything, which I felt bad for,” a witness said.
As of this morning, one cow is still unaccounted for, according to KTLA.
These Cows and All Other Animals Deserve Better
These cows should never have been next in line to be killed. They should never have had to run for their lives through dangerous streets. Their choices shouldn’t have been either be slaughtered or escape—and then likely be slaughtered.
Sheriff’s deputies were reportedly herding the cows who hadn’t been shot and killed onto a trailer late last night—a trailer that was surely slaughterhouse-bound, ready to return the animals to the facility that they had so frantically tried to escape from. These cows—and all animals—deserve better. Officials should have transferred them to a sanctuary—where they’d be free to bond with friends, nurse and fawn over their calves, and do other things that cows love to do—not ignored their desperate bid for freedom and their very lives.
The Hidden Lives of Cows
If you found yourself cheering for those who escaped or if you were sad to learn of one cow’s death or of the remaining cows’ probable return to the slaughterhouse, make sure you’re not supporting the killing of others for food. When you’re at the grocery store, opt for one or more of the many vegan beef options available today—like those from Beyond Meat, Gardein, and Before the Butcher. And click below to learn how you can help save nearly 200 cows and other animals per year:
