RICHMOND, Va. — A New Kent County family has added a new addition to its farm after adopting a calf that was found wandering on Richmond’s Northside.
Richmond Animal Care and Control (RACC) picked up the heifer late Saturday afternoon.
“Who has a cow in the city?” asked the shelter after finding a 5-month-old red and white Holstein calf in the 2200 block of Barton Avenue.
The calf, named Buttercup, was lassoed and quickly captured by RACC Officer Leech after help from several neighbors.
Matthew Ford assisted the officer in wrangling the calf after watching it graze across the street.
“We’re not exactly in the country out here,” Ford described. “But, she was there like she belonged. She was eating the grass and just minding its business.”
Ford and his neighbors boxed Buttercup in an alleyway where Officer Leech threw a lasso around its neck.
Since her capture, Buttercup has lived at the Richmond Police Mounted United stables on Brook Road.
RACC Director Christie Chipps-Peters said the calf appeared to be familiar with humans, but skinny.
“I don’t know if she was dumped there or hidden there for someone to pick up. She wasn’t there for very long,” she explained. “We really want to know where she came from and what happened.”
RACC named the calf after the flowers found on Barton Avenue where she was captured. Offers to re-home the calf poured in from Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
Monday afternoon, a family picked up Buttercup where it will live on 32-acres with other cows in Barhamsville located in New Kent County.
Peters said the calf will be a pet and won’t be eaten.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call 804-646-5740, email Christie.peters@richmondgov.com, or private message Richmond Animal Care and Control on Facebook or Instagram.
In August 2019, RACC officers captured two large pigs that were found wandering on Richmond’s Southside.
