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Calf escaped Slaughter

AGAINST all the odds, the calf hiding in the woods near Dunragit appears to be winning it’s battle for survival.

Last week, the "Free Press" told of how a one-year-old calf had fled as it awaited execution at a local foot-and-mouth cull.

The animal jumped over a dyke and disappeared into the woods near Home Farm, Dunragit following the cull on 25th April.

Amazingly, it has remained at large ever since.

The beast was subsequently named "Phoenix II" after Phoenix the calf, whose pitiful photograph is thought to have led to a change in Government culling policy.

Marksmen were called in to hunt down Phoenix II last week but have since given up after they "could not find it".

Now the farmer, 54-year-old Colin Adams, has been told to try and capture the calf himself and then Ministry officials will "come and deal with it".

He said that this was not as ominous as it sounds and that Phoenix II now has a very real chance of survival .