Jesus saves (cows): Connecticut calf born with cross-shaped marking to be spared from slaughter
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A calf born last week in Connecticut is getting a lot of attention for his unusual forehead marking: a cross that’s been immortalized in ‘holy cow!’ and ‘sacred calf’ headlines from news organizations all over the world. (You’ll notice, if you please, that we’ve spared you that cutesy headline-writing here.)
The calf, a Jersey-Holstein cross whom neighborhood children have named Moses, probably has a much better life in store for him than that which awaits most male calves on dairy farms. Because they don’t produce milk, male calves’ fates typically lie in a slaughterhouse.
Moses’ owners envision a different sort of life for the little guy: They hope that his prominent cross marking will bring attention to the plight of struggling dairy farmers. ‘I think he may be here to open people’s eyes and get a message across,’ farm owner Brad Davis told Fox 11 News of Green Bay, Wis. ‘Maybe something for farmers? For the dairy farmers possibly that there is hope and the answers are still coming.’
Davis said he initially didn’t recognize the calf’s marking as resembling a cross. After all, his fur was a bit mussed after his birth. A few hours later, when he was dry, the cross stood out clearly and Davis began to suspect he had something special on his hands.
Later that night, Davis witnessed something that made him even more convinced of Moses’ uniqueness. ‘The moon was out that night and there was a little bit of the moonlight coming in through the windows and his cross was the only thing that showed,’ he said. (Spooky!)
We can’t decide which divine-animal-image story we like the best: the calf with the cross marking, the Shroud of Turin-like image found in a mud-covered dog door or the Virgin Mary sighted in bird droppings on a car in Texas. Since we can’t make up our minds, we’ll let you decide for us:
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-- Lindsay Barnett