Police Capture Cow After It Escapes From Nativity Scene Twice
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — "Stormy" the cow who police corralled twice after she escaped an live nativity scene on Thursday morning has been replaced by her daughter, "Ginger."
The bovine that goes by the fitting name "Stormy" was brought into custody after police found her near a parking garage at 4th and Arch Streets.
Stormy originally had to be moved from the southbound lanes of I-95 in Philadelphia around 2 a.m., after it escaped from a live nativity scene at 4th and Race streets in Old City.
Police managed to corral her and get her down to Callowhill Street, but she then managed to escape the nativity scene, again.
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"I'm really surprised!" said Bobbie Turner of Society Hill.
Farmer Scott Moser helped wrangle the cow.
"She's a mellow, sweet cow, and nothing really fazes her. She's figured out that she can push this gate open and now she's playing with it," said Moser.
Pastor Michael Caine witnessed that for himself.
"While I was inside, right in front looking in the window, I watched her pushed with all her weight. It wasn't totally open, I was right there. She pushed it open so that was her second escape," Caine said.
Stormy is originally from the Manatawna Farms, affiliated with W.B. Saul High School in Roxborough, but has been at a live nativity scene at the Old First Reformed United Church of Christ for about a week.
Caine says they will be reviewing surveillance video to figure out exactly how the cow got loose from this locked and gated area.
"We think someone opened it; we don't know why," he said.
Shortly after settling back in, the cow may have pushed against the fence, escaping a second time, moving slowly down the streets of Philadelphia.
"She goes wherever she wants, at that point. She heads down 4th, trotting, and I'm like, 'Oh God, we're headed to Market [Street],'" Caine said.
Officers eventually led the bold bovine into an enclosed parking garage and brought her back to the manger, a place that's well-suited for her needs, according to Moser, who works with livestock and is the agriculture mechanic at W.B. Saul High School.
"She's very content, very comfortable, she has her needs met, she has water, she has hay all the time," Moser said.
Luckily, there are no reported injuries to the cow or people – and no damage to any objects.
"I wasn't trained in seminary for lassoing cows. Being a pastor can be difficult but I've never done this one before," Caine said. "I'm a city boy, not a farmer."
Caine also praised the quick action of officers.
"The city services have just been great," he said.
The church says it has improved the locks.
For now, there is a peaceful ending to an utterly eventful morning.
Officials say Stormy has been sent back to the farm and replaced with a younger cow, her daughter named "Ginger."
