WAN Exclusive With Founder Of Skylands Animal Sanctuary, Mike Stura, Who Saved The Life Of A Calf Who Escaped Slaughter In Queens, New York

Photo From: NYPD Special Ops, Twitter

The new year marks the beginning of a new life for a young female calf who escaped from a slaughterhouse in Queens, New York, late last month. Now named Stacy, the calf was saved by members of the New York Police Department and Park Rangers, along with Mike Stura, the Founder of Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue, where she now resides.

“She is just a small thing, just a baby,” shared a post on Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue’s Facebook page. “She escaped being murdered and now she is forever safe.”

Stacy

WAN talked with Stura, a decades-long animal rescuer and vegan about how the rescue of this approximately nine-month-old 400 pound “baby” was particularly heartwarming.

“This is a fun twist,” Stura told WAN. “This time, a six-year-vegan police officer called me on the phone to come help with the cow.” Usually, the police call Animal Control, which then contacts him.

After driving an hour and a half to pick up Stacy, Stura found her safely corralled by police cars and many of the smiling officers who participated in securing the brave young animal.

“New York cops witness really bad stuff all the time, so it was especially touching to watch how happy they were that this small cow was saved,” continued Sutra, who described the rescue of the “cute tiny calf who looks like a big cow” as “pretty simple” for everyone. “Whatever that ended up costing the city for manpower, it paid off 10 times in boosting moral for the officers involved in the rescue and it being a good day for them.”

Stacy, who Stura said was a sweetheart right from beginning, is uncharacteristically calm for an animal her age, and adjusting well to her new forever home in Wantage, New Jersey.

Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue is a 232-acre refuge and home to an estimated 450 animals that have been saved from slaughterhouses, live markets, farms, extreme neglect, abuse, religious ceremonies, and abandonment, among many other unfortunate circumstances.

Stacy may not have been in his plans for this holiday season, but Stura could not be more pleased that she was rescued, noting that it is always in his “holiday hopes to save someone.”

Such was the case with Christopher, also known as “Chrissy” the cow, who Stura welcomed into the extended Skylands family four years ago, soon after being born to a dairy mother on Christmas Day.

Christopher

Calling him “a sorely needed light in a sometimes very dark world,” Stura shared in a sweet post on Skylands Facebook page in December of 2017. “I am already totally in love with him and his beautiful little face…Welcome home, Christopher. I’m your new dad. Thank you for saving me on Christmas day.”

Ironically, four years ago, Stura also rescued Christopher’s best buddy, Walter, from slaughter at Fair Oaks Farms.

Walter

These are among the many uplifting rescue stories shared and experienced by Stura and Skylands Sanctuary. It was only last year that WAN reported on Stura’s remarkable rescue of the headline-making bull, formerly known as Barney, who escaped slaughter and had been on the run for more than two months in and around Long Island, New York.

Ways to support Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue and to donate to help with the care of Stacy, Christopher, Walter, and the hundreds of other rescued farm animals in need can be found, HERE!