For humans, 2021 was a struggle in so many ways.
But it was a good year for Milo, Yoyo, Hamilton the pig and 11 cows who live at the Children’s Farm in Palos Park.
Cowcatching
On March 16, 11 of the 17 cows at The Children’s Farm at The Center in Palos Park wandered off property.
Tara Garcia, farm education program manager, recalls the beef.
Around 5 o’clock, just as staff were calling it a day, a report came in that there were cows moo-ving near the train tracks. She and a coworker ran behind the farm property to where the Metra line runs southwest through the woods.
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“We still don’t know how they ended up there because I had to climb through some type of fencing to get to them,” she said. “But lo and behold, there they were.”
Garcia and her coworker knew they had to think and act quickly. Metra was contacted and trains were temporarily stopped.
The animals weren’t halter broken and couldn’t be led across the road in any kind of orderly fashion, she said. She had to come up with an udder solution.
That’s when she spied a “very convenient” hole in the fencing of nearby Oak Hills Cemetery, she said. She figured if she could get them into the graveyard, she could at least contain them.
“I wasn’t sure it was the best option but at the time it seemed like the only option,” she said.
Once wrangled inside, the cows started running around on the burial plots, some of which belonged to long-time patrons and supporters of The Center.
Garcia called for snow fencing.
Workers arrived with the farm’s small trailer and Garcia, with the help of her coworker and Palos Park police, was able to transport three to four cows at a time back to their pasture.
The crisis lasted about three hours, Garcia said.
Why did the cows make a run for it?
Garcia suspects bovine curiosity.
Sometimes animals wander outside their comfort zone because they’ve been startled. Cows, like horses, are big enough to run right over fencing if they’re scared enough, she said.
Other times, animals step out simply “because they can,” she said. “Sometimes the grass is greener on other side.”
When that happens, she added, the trick is to keep them calm. The more frazzled an escapee, the harder the roundup.
The Palos Park police summed up the adventure on its Facebook page:
“There’s been a bit of ‘beef’ off 131st Street and Route 7 tonight. Luckily, it happened at shift change so we had plenty of PPPD to ’roundup.’ As more PPPD arrived on the scene, the ‘steaks’ were high when we ‘herd’ of some cows causing ‘udder’ chaos on the roads. Our officers took ‘stock’ of the situation and worked as a team ‘steering’ them safely out of harm’s way!”
Workers might have offered hay bales but no arrests were made.
Hogwash
Earlier this month reporter Suzanne Baker told us about headline-hog Hamilton, a pet pig on the lam in Naperville.
With the help of his labradoodle, Clover, Ethan Zelizer was able to entertain the little porker for 45 minutes while he called Animal Control and posted an urgent message to the Brighton Ridge neighborhood Facebook page.
Owner Cindy Cavanagh, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, arrived on the scene with a bag of banana chips and soon the situation was resolved.
Cavanagh said she and 2-year-old Hamilton were visiting her mother for Christmas when Hammy decided to go exploring.
Hear tell, the adventure ended with squeals of delight.
Tiger taming
Yoyo has a home.
The tiny kitten was brought to A.D.O.P.T. Pet Shelter in Naperville in May 2019.
“She was almost feral,” shelter manager Liz Bierman said.
Staff and volunteers worked with her every day for more than a year to make her receptive to human touch.
They’d spend their own time giving the animal the attention she desperately needed, Bierman said.
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Right about the time she was warming up, the pandemic threw everyone for a loop.
At last, in February 2021, Yoyo was adopted into a loving family.
No strings attached.
Home for good
For Milo, Stanley and Stella, 2021 was a good year.
All three dogs had spent a cumulative lifetime – in dog years anyway – at the Naperville Area Humane Society. But now they have forever homes.
Milo was brought in on a transport from Oklahoma when he 21/2. He spent almost a year hanging with shelter staff and volunteers until someone recognized his canine charm and took him in.
Neglected during puppyhood, Stanley arrived at the shelter in 2015, struggling with a torn ACL. It was a painful recovery but he won the battle and scored a forever home.
Stella was brought to the shelter in 2020 by a college student who found her injured on the side of a road. The German Shepherd ended up losing a hind leg. Shelter staff tracked down her owner but given the dog’s prognosis, he didn’t want her anymore.
Lucky for her, someone else did. She now lives in a loving home on a farm in Wisconsin.
And those are some happy endings.
Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years.