This courageous cow broke out of her pen to live free with her wild bison cousins
A domesticated cow has been found living among a herd of gigantic bison in a Polish forest.
She was first spotted running with her distant relatives in November 2017 and then again in late January 2018, meaning they spent at least three months together.
The heifer could still be roaming free with her new tribe for all anyone knows, though there were talks about recapturing it so it didn’t contaminate the gene pool of the 600 or so wild bison left in the country.
The small, reddish-brown cow was first spotted by ornithologist Adam Zbyryt with a herd of about 50 bison.
At first Zybryt thought the animal was a bison with a mutated gene, but as he got closer he realized she was a French Limousin cow, acting as if she were right at home with the rest.
A full three months later the same cow was photographed again by biologist Rafal Kowalczyk.
Try as she might to fit in, the heifer was “not too coordinated with the group,” Kowalczyk said.
“Bison are like one organism and she stands out.”
Still, the fact that the beast had survived the winter with her adopted bison family impressed him.
Both bison and cattle are very social animals, forming close bonds with family and friends.
Unfortunately, Kowalczyk said it was a bond that may need to be broken, as the young cow could die birthing a large cow-bison hybrid and/or contaminate the gene pool of the wild bison herd.
There is no word on whether the cow was ever recaptured or still running wild.