Songwriter saves missing cow that escapeds slaughterhouse

By Jade Hernandez, Leo Stallworth, Amy Powell

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    EL MONTE, California (KABC) — The last of 40 cows that escaped from a slaughterhouse in Pico Rivera earlier this week was found Thursday in a South El Monte-area field, and city officials said the animal’s life will be spared thanks to Grammy Award-winning songwriter Diane Warren.

The cow was discovered at Whittier Narrows Park, which is about five miles away from the neighborhood where they broke free Tuesday evening.

Patrol cars were seen surrounding the animal as it stood in a clearing of the park. Shortly before 8 a.m., the cow was wrangled and loaded onto a trailer.

The cow was among 40 that escaped from a slaughterhouse Tuesday and ran through a Pico Rivera neighborhood. Authorities and meat plant employees were able to round up and return 38 cows to the Manning Beef facility, but the lone cow had remained on the loose.

One animal was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies after it appeared to be charging at people in the neighborhood. Several members of one family were injured and treated at a local hospital.

At a news conference Thursday morning, officials said Warren — who is an animal advocate and previously helped save other animals — is helping to facilitate efforts to have the last cow sent to the Farm Sanctuary in Acton, where it will live out the rest of its life.

“This morning I woke up, and I turned the news on and there’s this one cow that had gotten away and it was crying out as someone from the slaughterhouse was trying to recapture her,” Warren told Eyewitness News. “And I’m like, ‘I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to save this cow.'”

Warren reached out to her animal activist friends before contacting the slaughterhouse.

“Her name is going to be Free,” Warren said about the cow she saved.

The cow will undergo a health examination and then be released to the city of Pico Rivera, who along with Warren will get the cow to the sanctuary.

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