Fugitive steer spared by slaughterhouse
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DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- A steer that fled the slaughterhouse two weeks ago will get the chance to live out his days on a Michigan farm.
After negotiations, the slaughterhouse's owner and representatives of an animal sanctuary reached an agreement Monday that will spare the steer's life.
The animal has been monitored by federal food inspectors since it was shot with a tranquilizer dart near a busy Detroit street on December 2. Under federal rules, the steer could have been legally slaughtered Wednesday.
Instead, the Al Badr Slaughterhouse will donate the animal to the Sanctuary and Safe Haven for Animals, according to Dorothy Davies, director of the Manchester farm.
The farm will pay the slaughterhouse an undisclosed sum to cover charges associated with the steer's break, including the cost of a crane to lift the sedated animal, two weeks' worth of feed and veterinary expenses.
Davies hopes to pick up the steer this week.
Al Badr's owner did not return calls for comment. A woman answering the slaughterhouse's phone said the owner was at a livestock auction.
Davies said the skittish steer has touched thousands of area residents.
About 30 people sent the sanctuary small donations to help purchase the steer, raising just over $1,000, Davies said.
"He put a face on food," she said. "Looking at hamburger meat wrapped in a cellophane package is not the same as looking at that face."
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