Emily the Cow's 40-Day Escape to Sanctuary

A three-year-old, 1,600-pound heifer named Emily escaped a Hopkinton slaughterhouse moments before execution, staying loose for 40 days amid heavy snowfall, foraging in backyards and occasionally joining a deer herd. Local residents protected her while police were ordered to shoot on sight; she lost significant weight but was eventually captured. A family bought her for a dollar and brought her to the Peace Abbey animal sanctuary, where she lived eight more years as a symbol of animal rights and vegetarianism, even serving as a bridesmaid at weddings, until dying of uterine cancer in 2003. Her grave is marked by a life-sized bronze statue between Mother Teresa and Gandhi.