Cow dies 7 years after escaping slaughter

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., Jan. 10 (UPI) -- A cow that became a celebrity when it escaped from an Ohio slaughterhouse has died after almost seven years in an animal sanctuary in Upstate New York.

Cincinnati Freedom, the name the animal was given after 11 days on the lam in 2002, was diagnosed with spinal cancer in December, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. She was euthanized at the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen after a veterinarian said the cancer was untreatable and the animal would be unable to stand again, Natalie Bowman, a spokeswoman for the sanctuary said.

The cow, a white Charolais weighing 1,050 pounds, jumped a fence at Ken Meyer Meats in Cincinnati. For the next 11 days, the cow used Mount Storm Park as a pasture while the Humane Society and Cincinnati police tried and failed to round her up.

Once she was in custody, New York artist Peter Max adopted her, arranged her transfer to Watkins Glen and named her Cincinnati Freedom, or Cinci.

"Over the years she had an amazing number of visitors, people who had read about her or seen her on TV and remembered her story," Bowman said. "People from Ohio were always visiting."