This is Moonpie, a baby miniature cow living at the Rocky Ridge Refuge in Arkansas.
Moonpie’s living situation is quite unlike any other miniature cow. Instead of living with other animals like herself she spends her days surrounded by 12 dogs and couldn’t be happier.
“She accepts them as her buddies,” said Janice Wolf, the sanctuary’s founder. “Babies like that — they don’t know a whole lot about what it’s supposed to be, so they kind of just accept things.”
Moonpie was rescued from a livestock auction house. Here, she would have been sold off and killed for meat.
“These auctions are huge — millions and millions of animals are auctioned off everyday,” Wolf said. “I stay away from them because they kind of make me crazy. Many of the animals aren’t being treated that well.”
Wolf’s friend attended the auction in her place to see if there were any animals they could save. She knew she wanted to save Moonpie the minute she laid eyes on her.
“She was a mini, and you don’t see a lot of those go through the local auctions,” Wolf said.
Wolf’s friend purchased her and transported her straight to the sanctuary.
As Moonpie is still a baby, she is milk-dependent and without a mother to feed her, staff knew they would need to provide more intensive care and they couldn’t keep her outside with the other cows.
“I don’t have a lot of room here, and it was cold and rainy, and that wasn’t good for a little calf,” Wolf explained. “All my heated buildings were occupied with other critters, so that’s how she ended up in my bedroom. I figured it would just be for a few days, but the weather just kept going whacky, so she’s been in there for the last six weeks.”
And so, Moopie became roommates with the other dogs.
“They were all thrilled to see her,” Wolf said.
She immediately bonded with all the pups and they got on very well from the very first day. One, in particular, took a special liking to her – ‘Spackle’ the deaf white terrier.
Now they are best friends.
“The picture with the white bull terrier — that was Moonpie’s first day here,” Wolf said. “Spackle loves babies, and immediately became her protector and buddy. She wouldn’t leave that calf’s side. They instantly bonded.”
They all love to cuddle, clean and play with each other.
“[The dogs] are her surrogate moms,” Wolf said. “They clean her face, the way her mother would have. They love to do that.”
The dogs and Moonpie are constantly learning things from one another. She has been able to pick up some of their skills and mannerisms such as learning going to the bathroom outside.
“She does what the dogs show her, so she learned how to do that,” Wolf said.
The weather has begun to clear up and so Moonpie is gradually spending more and more time outside. This has meant that she’s been able to meet the other calves and cows!
“At first she wasn’t sure what to think, and then she’s just like, ‘OK, a bigger dog,'” Wolf said. “But they started hanging together, too. She now knows she’s a cow, I think.”
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She’s still got a lot of growing to do before she’s ready to meet everyone else though. The sanctuary is home to all kinds of animals rescued from abusive and neglectful situations such as emu’s water buffalo, capybaras, dogs, pigs, goats, and chickens.
Until then, she’s still very much at home inside the house with her family of dogs.
“It’s all just a matter of who’s in your space,” Wolf said. “You love the ones you’re with. I think she just knows that there’s a lot of different friends in the world.”
If you’d like to help Moonpie and her friends at the Rocky Ridge Refuge, click here to make a donation.
