The Unsinkable Molly B
Cow who escaped slaughter gets her third life
She’s survived a stay at a slaughterhouse and a treacherous swim to safety across the Missouri river.
And now this remarkable cow with a will to live has bulldozed her way through another life-threatening scenario. The Unsinkable Molly B is one of just a handful of animals to survive the collapse of an animal sanctuary where hundreds of animals had to be put down.
Molly made headlines around the world five years ago when she escaped from Mickey’s Packing Plant in Great Falls, Montana, where she was about to be butchered.
Above: Molly B crosses onto 8th Avenue South in Great Falls during her escape in January, 2006. Photo by Robin Loznak. Below: The Missouri River as it flows rapidly through Great Falls.
She jumped a 5-foot fence, raced off down a street, and with police and animal control officers hot on her heels, dodged people and traffic to make a final bid for freedom by swimming across the Missouri River. Only after three tranquilizer darts had been shot into her, did she finally collapse.
Hearts went out to the cow with a heart, and slaughterhouse staff decided that Molly B should not just be ground up for hamburgers. Instead, she was put out to pasture at the nearby Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue, near the small town of Hot Springs. But life there started going out of control with more than 600 llamas, more than 100 horses, donkeys and cattle and a collection of bison, camels, exotic rodents and other birds and beasts. Animals were breeding out of control, and last year one of only two full-time employees became sick. By the end of the year, many of the animals were sick, too, and in deteriorating situations.
Rescue organizations who stepped in said they were forced to euthanize many of the surviving cattle, horses and llamas on the 400-acre sanctuary.
But, once again, Molly B managed to survive the horror.
“Molly B made it OK. She’s a tough old broad,” said Jerry Finch with Habitat for Horses of Hitchcock, Texas, who participated in the rescue effort. “She had bad feet, but she was not anywhere near as bad as some of the others.”
And today she has a new home at the New Dawn MT Sanctuary, a 20-acre ranch, which is run by Susan Eakins on in Montana.
Susan Eakins said that, after a heart-to-heart with her husband over whether they could afford to take another cow into their 50-animal operation, the couple decided to make it work.
“We made a commitment to her,” Mrs Eakins said.