Wednesday night was a series of surprises for Milford, Connecticut animal control officer Rick George. First, he finally catch up with the cow, affectionately named Waldo, that's evaded him since July.
Second, he found out Waldo is actually a Wanda.
It ends a six month cow-hunt for Wanda, who veterinarians believe has been hanging out with a herd of deer. They believe it's the deer who kept alerting her to humans being present every time they tried to capture her.
"Fascinating and frustrating," is how veterinarian Kimberly McClure Brinton describes the experience. "The first time that we tried to do this a month ago, there was one deer, I think it was a buck that was hanging out with her, that would stomp and snort and warn her that there were people close."
The bait: molasses soaked grain. The trap: a portable, small, yet sturdy corral.
"She snores very loudly," says Rick George. "And when she started to stir and wake up she makes her presence well known."
Wanda is now at an Oxford farm where she will live out her days unless her owner is identified. She is believed to have come from a farm along the West Haven/Orange line.
She was captured in an area known as Calf Pen Meadow. That name dates back to the Revolutionary War. It's a low lying area where Colonists would hide their cattle from the British.
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