Anchorage escaped cow: six months ago is still on the run.
A fugitive cow who escaped a huge rodeo event six months ago is still on the run despite numerous attempts to catch her.
The animal, named Betsy, vanished from the Anchorage Rodeo in Anchorage, Alaska, and has hidden out in the city’s 4000-acre Far North Park ever since.
Betsy has managed to evade an infrared police drone sent into the air to try and track her down, as well as several attempts by her owner Frank Koloski to recapture her.
Koloski told The Washington Post: ‘I’m just totally exhausted from looking day in and day out. She’s a go-getter, that’s for sure.’ The frustrated farmer says that although he hasn’t managed to catch up with Betsy, she is regularly spotted by locals, who call up Anchorage PD, with Koloski then contacted with up-to-date information on her whereabouts.
But despite several fast dashes to such sightings, Betsy has continued to give Koloski the slip. Her black fur blends in seamlessly with the park’s dark spruce trees, making it hard to see Betsy even when she is close.
He said: ‘I go out there, I’m standing in her tracks and she’s nowhere to be found.’ Koloski bought Betsy just a day before the rodeo began, and thinks she may have pushed her weight against a loose gate, or taken advantage of someone leaving a gate open to break free. After her escape, startled locals reported sightings of a cow in Far North Park, with those spottings initially dismissed as fake.
The huge nature reserve is filled with grass for Betsy to eat, with Koloski leaving out bales of hay and mineral blocks to help ensure she stays well-fed during the harsh winter. There are also numerous fresh water sources, even during the coldest periods of the year.
He now hopes to recapture his cow by bringing other cows into the area, with Betsy’s sociable nature likely to make her run towards them, giving Koloski the opportunity to lasso her. Koloski concedes the size of the park, and plentiful supplies, mean he may be waiting to find Betsy for another while, adding: ‘It’s a cow’s dream.’
