Where the City’s Runaways Roam Free

July 8, 2007

July 6, 2007, 3:41 pm Where the City’s Runaways Roam Free By Kim Severson Lucky Lady, a sheep who escaped from a live animal market in the Bronx, now lives at a vegan farm upstate. (Photo: Randy Harris for The New York Times) WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Ah, to be a young farm animal free in the big city. Actually, being loose on the streets of New York isn’t really the fun part. That starts once you’re scooped up by the police, delivered to animal rescue experts and sent north to the farm. In this case, “the farm” isn’t a euphemism parents might use when the family pet has to take that last fatal trip to the vet. For farm animals found running loose in New York City, it often means taking up residency at Farm Sanctuary, 175 acres of vegan nirvana nestled here among the vineyards and vegetable stands in the Finger Lakes region. The newest arrival from New York is Lucky Lady, a lamb found tearing through the streets of the Bronx on June 13. Noting her agricultural tags, the people who saved Lucky Lady concluded that she had escaped from a

live animal market where the culinary and cultural value of certain kinds of meat comes from the timeliness and manner of slaughter. Lucky Lady, indeed. At Farm Sanctuary, she is attended to by a staff of 16 led by Susie Coston, the shelter director. The sanctuary began in 1989, and Ms. Coston has been there almost as long. The people who run the sanctuary call her the Jane Goodall of farm animals, an analogy that becomes clear when, during an interview, she nestles up next to a drooling pig twice her size and rubs its belly. Lucky Lady is in isolation for the next couple of weeks, trying to shake a case of contagious ecthyma, or sore mouth, a condition Coston described as lamb herpes. But even in isolation, she doesn’t have it so bad. Her hay-lined accommodations are about twice the size of a Manhattan office worker’s cubicle. When Ms. Coston and veterinarians from Cornell agree she’s in the clear, Lucky

Lady will join 750 other animals who at one time or another were destined to become dinner. That includes dozens of chickens that survived Hurricane Katrina, a couple of ducks whose livers were going to become foie gras and 40 pigs, some of whom were headed for the slaughterhouse when they were abandoned by a truck driver near Washington. And Lucky Lady will have plenty of her New York City friends to keep her company, too. There’s Joey, the goat from Brooklyn who in January joined a posse of other goats who also hail from that borough. If Lucky Lady follows the other sheep and ambles up a hill to the wide pasture where the cows hang out, she will probably meet Queenie, considered by the other animals to be one of the heroes of the farm, according to Gene Baur, president and founder of Farm Sanctuary. In 2000, Queenie busted out of a slaughterhouse in Queens, running free for 20 blocks until police shot her with a tranquilizer gun in a playground.

She was just a calf then. Today, she’s more than doubled in size and spends her days with 55 other cows, many of whom don’t seem to mind when visitors give them a good scratch between the eyes. But not all the guests from New York are as well behaved. “I’ve got a goose from Manhattan and he is tough,” Ms. Coston said. “We call him Hannibal the Cannibal. He’s still a city boy.” People & Neighborhoods, Offbeat, animals Related At a Peacock Sanctuary, Mourning a Slain Relative New Noise Code; Bruno's Flights; Attack on a Peacock; and More Following Urban Bees on Their Daily Rounds City Puts Retro Bird on YouTube 75 comments so far... 1. July 6th,20075:18 pm Almost makes me want to become a vegetarian. But while it’s nice what happens to a lamb on the lamb in the city, what becomes of a dog who’s running loose? Without an adopter, the gas chamber, right? — Posted by spikethedog 2. July 6th,20075:24 pm As a Brookylnite recently transplanted into the Bronx (and I’m also a long-time vegetarian), I have been very dismayed to see how many live poultry markets and slaughterhouses

are in my new borough. I’m very happy to hear stories about Lucky Lady and her other extremely fortunate farm-mates, and I thank you for sharing them, but my heart breaks and my thoughts are tortured for those who are not so lucky. My daily commute on the elevated 5 train passes a live poultry market, so it’s a constant, twice-daily, sad reminder that not everyone loves animals the way I do. God bless the people at Farm Sanctuary. — Posted by Annette 3. July 6th,20075:33 pm Lambie! Can’t eat this… — Posted by Eugenie 4. July 6th,20075:34 pm Great story… another home run from NYT’s best blog! — Posted by M F 5. July 6th,20075:34 pm As a Bronxite who has to deal with the gentrification of former Brooklyn hipsters, I have been dismayed to see how many of them are pushy vegetarians who should learn to mind their own business. I’m not happy to hear stories about Lucky Lady, nor any other guilt trips from New York Times readers who will apparently not rest until we eat nothing but tofu bought from low-wage/high price joints like Whole Foods. — Posted by

Daniel 6. July 6th,20075:36 pm I have visited the Farm Sanctuary, and their shelter is gorgeous. I’m glad to see that an article about their amazing work has made it to such an important newspaper. Keep up the good work! — Posted by Arielle 7. July 6th,20075:42 pm Such a treat to see this story andd Lady Lucky’s picture front and center on the Times’ homepage. — Posted by Elizabeth Tobier 8. July 6th,20075:45 pm You’ve got to love this article. This is definitely an article that is e-mail worthy! — Posted by Ellie 9. July 6th,20075:45 pm “[T]wice the size of a Manhattan office worker’s cubicle?” You don’t say. Do you think there’s a similar sanctuary for young associates? How many blocks away from the office do you think you might have to run before being scooped up by the police? Do you think bleeting and/or making other animal noises

would increase my–I mean, “someone’s”–chances of being shipped off to a “farm up north”? — Posted by Amanda 10. July 6th,20075:46 pm It is so refreshing to see such a wonderful article on the cover of the NY Times. I have been to Farm sanctuary and it is truly heaven on earth. Thank you Farm Sanctuary and the Times for publishing this story and making it front page news! — Posted by Jennifer 11. July 6th,20075:49 pm In response to spikethedog’s note below…yes, over 20,000 dogs and cats are killed each year in New York City shelters due to our animal overpopulation problem. Please spay and neuter your pets and dont breed or buy while shelter pets die…..OPT TO ADOPT. Bless Farm Sanctuary and all the rescue groups out there that save our animals! — Posted by Jennifer 12. July 6th,20075:50 pm Daniel, vegetarians aren’t the ones that are pushy. The society that tells us as kids ‘it’s not a meal without meat’ are really the pushy ones. Have fun upstate Lucky lady! — Posted by Liz Bradford 13. July 6th,20075:51 pm That lamb sure looks happy. Betcha she would be happier with some rosemary, salt, pepper, olive oil and potatoes on the side. — Posted by Sean 14. July 6th,20075:52 pm I don’t get it. Why can’t they just put the animals back on the auction block after they’re caught? I recognize that Lucky Lady was lucky because “the culinary and cultural value of certain kinds of meat comes from the timeliness and manner of slaughter,” but I’m surprised there are so many animals that “get out of jail” for

free. Good for them, but it doesn’t make total sense to me. — Posted by MTPeter H

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