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| EMILY
THE COW TO GET HER HOOF IN THE SPOTLIGHT By The Associated Press
She eventually was found on Christmas Eve by the Randa family, who are pacifists and animal-rights activists. They saw Emily's escape as the beginning of a spiritual and symbolic journey. The Randas brought her to their compound in the middle of town, where they run a spiritual retreat house and a school for disabled children. Now, First Look Pictures has bought the rights to Emily's saga and the company is working on a screenplay for a movie about her. Ellen Little, the head of First Look, discovered Emily in the pages of People magazine and decided that her story deserved to be played on a big screen. "Emily's spirit and the human beings in the community who came to her rescue and who were touched by her make a heartwarming, beautiful story," Ms. Little told a Boston area newspaper. Ms. Little hopes Emily's story becomes as big a box-office hit as "Babe," the story of a pig. Ms. Little said First Look, a motion picture distribution company, plans to start filming on location soon, and hopes to have the movie in theaters by next Christmas. Emily already is getting star treatment. Ms. Little bought her a new $10,000 barn -- complete with TV and VCR -- and has pledged a lifetime endowment for her. The Randas and Emily's other fans believe her life was spared by divine intervention on Nov. 14, 1995. "Our feeling from the beginning was this was all pre-destined by a higher power," said Meg Randa. "It restores my belief that life is full of gifts and that God works in mysterious ways -- even with cows." The Randas planned a surprise for Emily over the weekend. As an early Christmas gift, they adopted a 6-month-old steer named Gabriel as a playmate for her. Emily couldn't have found a safer home; each year, Meg and Lewis Randa bestow a Courage of Conscience Award on people who work for peace, drawing world luminaries like Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama to Sherborn to accept the award. |
Our feeling from the beginning was this was all pre-destined
by a higher power," said Meg Randa. "It restores my belief that
life is full of gifts and that God works in mysterious ways
-- even with cows. 