AR-News: News: Fugitive steer spared by slaughterhouse (US-MI)

[Lawrence Carter-Long]

Fugitive steer spared by slaughterhouse
Wednesday, December 17, 2003 Posted: 8:22 AM EST (1322 GMT)

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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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


Lawrence Carter-Long
e-mail: LCarter-Long(at)PosterBrat.com
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