A Dutch cow has escaped from a slaughterhouse and everybody is going crazy about it!

Hermien the cow escapes the slaughterhouse!

Hermien the cow has escaped whilst on it’s way to a slaughterhouse, and it’s causing quite a stir.

If you go on social media, you might begin to see a trend emerging with ‘Hermien’ the cow. Hashtags have appeared, such as #SaveHermien, #MeKoe, and #KoeHermien.

The cow is currently hiding somewhere in the woods near Lettele, in Overijssel and has been running around near there since December. Hermien certainly isn’t stupid – she has learnt to appear only at night and hides in the day, so she can avoid capture. So far veterinarians have tried sedative rifles and police have also attempted to catch the cow. So far no luck!

Hermien in hiding (source: twitter)

Hypocrisy regarding the Dutch cow

There has been quite a hypocrisy surrounding this story, as people campaign to save the cow, however are still consuming beef.

An assistant professor in Animal Ethics at Wageningen University, highlighted that if Hermien should be saved, then what about all of the other cows being slaughtered? She does kind of have a point though.

The ‘Partij voor de Dieren’ (Party for the Animals) has begun a campaign to save the cow from slaughter. On the parties website, Ester Ouwehand stated:

She reminds us all about an important lesson: no animal wants to go to slaughter.

Well there is no surprise that the cow didn’t want to go!

This story opens up a lot of discussion about meat eating and that a lot of us are just ignoring the issues that comes with slaughtering animals.

I for one am very happy that Hermien may be saved. She certainly deserves it after her big escape. It certainly makes you think about the ethics regarding eating animals, which is hard for a lot of us when we are so blinded by how damn good meat tastes.

Hermien is a strong independent cow, who don’t need no slaughter 😉

Let us know what you think in the comments!

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Emma Brown
Emma Brown
A familiar face at DutchRevew. Emma arrived in Holland in 2016 for a few weeks, fell in love with the place and never left. Here she rekindled her love of writing and travelling. Now you'll find her eating stroopwafels in the DutchReview office since 2017.

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