Obituary Lori
she was the cow who thought she was a deer
Calf Lori escaped while unloading from the cattle lorry in front of the butcher’s shop. Lori ran for her young life and fled up a 1200 metre high mountain. It got colder and colder, and there were days when the thermometer read minus 15 degrees. The paths in the forest were icy – Lori didn’t care about any of that. She had saved her life for the time being and lived in the forest for the next few weeks. The fact that Lori didn’t fall on the icy paths was a miracle for the hunter. He wanted to observe his new forest dweller.
Lori found her food at a deer feeding station, and had probably convinced the deer “that’s the way it is now. You share the food with me, the cow”. The hunter’s hunting ethos led him not to use the shotgun, but to let Lori live. However, she refused to be caught.
A passionate wildlife filmmaker captured Lori’s life in the forest with the deer. The film shows in a highly interesting way how Lori has come to terms with the deer and hinds. Slowly and somewhat shyly, Lori approached the feeding station, took a tuft of hay and lay down to chew the cud.
Lori needed water and found it near a farmhand’s hut. There was a well there. Lori somehow managed to make a small hole in the frozen ground and managed to get some vital water.
Step by step, Lori socialised with the top dogs at the feed trough on her own initiative. Virtually “speechless”, the antlers were driven away from the hay bale by the hornless cow calf. The hunter liked how the wild cattle instinctively emerged from Lori the cow in her need for survival. She moved sure-footedly in the icy terrain like her former ancestors, her nostrils raised to catch the scent. Lori fascinated the hunter – the film does not show exactly how the deer felt with the new family member.
There were people who felt sorry for Lori, while others thought that “the shit with the calf” was exaggerated. This brings us to an important topic. There is no such thing as a stupid cow. Lori felt as soon as she stepped out of the transporter that it would be best to run away. The forest became her new home for a few weeks and she managed to baffle the deer, as well as the hunter. Lori was smart, highly sensitive, and knew how to assert herself and dominate the scene around her.
In the end, Lori became an Aiderbichler and spent her life with Christian Kögl at Moosfeldhof: “She was very special, Lori. She didn’t do anything she didn’t want to!”
The average age of cows is 18 – 25 years. Lori was 18 years old when she lay dead in the pasture a few weeks ago. Lori’s life had been exciting and full, and we are trying to accept Lori’s death. She was known for going it alone, and so she went over the Rainbow Bridge without making a fuss.
There are only two ways to live. Either as if nothing is a miracle, or as if everything is a miracle.
– Albert Einstein
Dear Lori,
We are proud to have been your companions. With your angsttlessnessyou have amazed everyone: the butcher,the hunter,the stags and hinds in the forest. You have always gone your own way and one thing is also clear: you, dear Lori, are one of the great examples in the animal worldthat prove to humansthat there is no such thing as a stupid cow.
Go your own way in the sky, and don’t forget the people you have amazed. Take care, dear Lori.
