Cow escapes slaughterhouse, thanks to Diane Warren

LOS ANGELES • A cow which escaped from a Los Angeles slaughterhouse with 39 others was found last Thursday, but unlike her fellow ex-fugitives, she will be spared after celebrity songwriter Diane Warren intervened on her behalf.

The cows had caused a sensation when they ran amok last Tuesday in the streets of Pico Rivera, a residential area of the city, wandering around and munching on people's lawns.

They had escaped the meatpacking plant through a gate that was left open.

Police on horseback took hours to corral the animals and get them onto trailers for the trip back to the slaughterhouse.

At one point, the police had the runaways cornered in a cul de sac, but the herd scattered when being rounded up.

The police shot one dead when it charged towards a family with children, and 38 were returned to face their demise.

But one of them continued to evade the law and was found only last Thursday, grazing in a field a few miles from the slaughterhouse.

A Pico Rivera municipal official said the cow would be sent to an animal shelter, rather than the slaughterhouse, thanks to the intervention of Warren, 64.

The California songwriter, who has written songs such as LeAnn Rimes' How Do I Live (1997) and Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing (1998), has won a Grammy, an Emmy and two Golden Globes for her scores for hit movies like Up Close & Personal (1996).

The town of Pico Rivera is in talks with the slaughterhouse owners over the possibility of sending all the escapees to shelters, the official said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE