Calf escapes slaughterhouse and runs through NYC. ‘Hopefully he’ll die from old age’

A calf broke free from a slaughterhouse in New York City and was seen bolting through the streets of Brooklyn, according to media reports and a rescue group.

The surprising stunt managed to spare the animal from the butcher’s block.

The calf, a 4-month-old male, was being unloaded from a truck outside a slaughterhouse on March 21 when things took an unexpected turn, Mike Stura, the founder of Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in New Jersey, told McClatchy News.

“At the last second he turned and just kind of blasted everyone out of the way and ran down the street with a bunch of people in tow,” Stura said.

People in the area captured video footage of the calf dashing through the streets as workers attempted to wrangle him, according to PIX11. He was eventually corralled back to the slaughterhouse.

Shortly afterward, a public outcry erupted, calling for the calf to be saved, according to WABC.

“People empathized with him,” Stura said. “The way our society works is: out of sight, out of mind. And this animal was in sight.”

Stura, who had been tipped off to the incident by someone online, contacted the slaughterhouse and was told that the animal had been sent back to the farm in Pennsylvania where it came from.

Intent on rescuing him, Stura, who opposes eating animals, hooked up his trailer and drove three hours down to the farm in Lancaster.

Eventually, he convinced the owner to give up the daring cow.

With the 400-pound calf safely in tow in his trailer, Stura began driving back to his sanctuary, which cares for animals rescued from neglect, abuse, slaughterhouses, religious ceremonies and more, according to its website.

On his way home, Stura decided to name the cow Stewie.

“Hopefully he’ll die from old age in 20-some-odd years,” he said.

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