Animal Profiles:
Beulah, Caroline, and Stewart
Beulah and her friend Caroline came to Poplar Spring in the Winter of 1998. These one year old dairy cows were rescued from a farm in North Carolina where they had almost died of starvation. Animal control officers, investigating a complaint of cows wandering in the road, found not only broken fencing but dead and totally emaciated dying cows. A few of the cows were so far gone they had to be euthanized on the spot. The remaining herd of 27 were confiscated and sent to temporary homes. Beulah and Caroline, who were only a few months old, were two of the lucky survivors. Stewart David, a volunteer at the NC shelter called to ask for our help. We explained that we were full, but when we heard that the Humane Society was unbelievably considering selling the animals for slaughter, we decided we had to make room for two more. Stewart and his wife Terri worked hard and found homes at Sanctuaries for all the other cows, and the owners of the dairy farm were charged with seven counts each of animal cruelty, fined, and can never own cattle again.
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Stewart (right) and his mother, Beulah
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It was with great surprise that we noticed one day, almost 6 months after her arrival, that Beulah's udder had grown very large and full. We called the vet, and she confirmed our fears; Beulah was indeed pregnant. This was not good news -- Beulah was only a year old, and the vet feared her pelvis was too small to accommodate a large calf. She suggested a caesarean, which could be very risky for both mother and baby. We decided to take Beulah to the University of Pennsylvania's large animal hospital where she would have the best chance of survival. The doctors there opted to wait and let her go into labor; a week later, Beulah gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, without surgery or complications. We named him Stewart after his rescuer, and brought him home to Poplar Spring.
Since this was Beulah's first calf, she was not exactly a model mother. When Stewart was a few weeks old, and we began turning the two of them out with the other cows, Beulah would wander far away from the barn, and baby Stewart would follow her, become tired, and lay down to take a nap. She would then leave without him, returning alone to the barn with the other cows at the end of the day and looking at us as if to say, "What baby? I don't know anything about a baby." A few nights spent frantically searching in the tall grass with flashlights convinced us that they needed to be contained in a smaller area until Stewart could keep up with the group.
We placed them in the enclosed sheep and goat pasture for a few months, which worked well, and Stewart grew healthy and strong. He is now almost two years old, and is taller than his mother with large horns, though he still nurses from her occasionally! Stewart and Beulah are wonderful animals, and enjoy getting scratches and treats. Although Beulah was wild and terrified when she first came to the Sanctuary, she now knows that people will no longer hurt her, and has responded by becoming very tame and friendly. And Stewart, who has never known anything but kindness, will be able to live his entire life grazing and relaxing with Beulah, Caroline, and their many other rescued cow friends.
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