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BOSTON
GLOBE Quiet activist Emily the Cow will rest in Peace Abbey Famed bovine fled slaughter, inspired vegans By Benjamin Gedan, Globe Correspondent, 4/1/2003 SHERBORN -- Eight years after escaping a Hopkinton slaughterhouse, Emily the Cow, an inarticulate but persuasive spokeswoman for vegetarianism, died in her sleep early Sunday of uterine cancer. She was 10. Officials at the Sherborn Peace Abbey, which bought Emily in 1995, praised her yesterday for promoting vegetarianism to the center's estimated 100 weekly visitors. In her eight years in Sherborn, more than 90 guests forswore red meat, many taking the vegetarian pledge after encountering the mild-mannered activist, said Meg Randa, who runs the Peace Abbey with her husband, Lewis. ''She changed the way people think about animals,'' Randa said yesterday. ''It's easy to go the grocery, but Emily put a face on that packet of beef.'' The Peace Abbey, a rural complex for contemplation and anti-war activism in Sherborn's historic district, also houses the Greater Boston Vegetarian Resource Center. Its 3-acre property, with two buildings, is splattered with anti-war posters, many critical of the conflict in Iraq. Vegetarianism, however, is also part of the pacifist mission, officials said, and pamphlets including ''Veg News,'' ''Veg Living,'' and ''Why Vegan?'' are stacked throughout the grounds. The center offers cooking classes and discussion groups to promote vegetarianism, and officials said Emily the Cow was central to the regional campaign. ''A lot of people were touched by her,'' said Lewis Randa. Emily joined the Peace Abbey's herbivorous campaign at age 2, after a celebrated escape from a Hopkinton holding pen, and weeks of wandering through snow-covered woods. Aided by an ''underground railroad'' of animal lovers, the cow eluded capture for 40 days, before the Peace Abbey negotiated a deal to buy her for $1. ''[Emily] was the poster child for vegetarianism,'' said Christine Cassidy, a Lesley University student and Peace Abbey intern. ''She was very popular. Jumping from the slaughterhouse to freedom was quite a story.'' Yesterday, mourners trickled into the Peace Abbey barn, where the black-and-white cow lay motionless, her 1,300-pound frame shrouded in a colorful, embroidered blanket, a floral necklace around her bowed head. Emily's death was not unexpected; the cow was diagnosed with cancer in February, and last Tuesday, she returned from the Tufts University Hospital for Large Animals with painkillers, her owners having opted against experimental surgery and chemotherapy. Longtime companions, however, were shaken yesterday, as funeral preparations were underway. Including the sizable corpse, signs of Emily's death were ubiquitous. A despondent recording on the Peace Abbey answering machine, and a sandwich board in its driveway, reported Emily's demise. A tractor and forklift for moving the body were parked next to the barn. And bright orange cones were arranged in the grassy yard, marking a cemetery plot in the shadow of a Mahatma Gandhi statue. Testimonials will be heard tonight at a memorial service at 7. The cow's life will be permanently recalled in a life-size bronze statue to be erected above the grave, which workers planned to dig with the tractor's backhoe. ''It's a shame that her life was cut short. Her work was not done,'' said Meg Randa, who reported a doubling of Peace Abbey traffic since the start of the war in Iraq. ''She was an extraordinary creature,'' added Lewis Randa, holding back tears. ''When she was living, she was a sight to behold.'' Benjamin Gedan can be reached at gedan@globe.com. |