Red The Cow Led Crowley Museum Cattle To Safety Before Hurricane Ian

SARASOTA, FL — Thanks to the bravery of a cow named Red, the herd of cattle that calls Crowley Museum & Nature Center in Sarasota home survived Hurricane Ian’s hit to the area.

Red, a 4-year-old cracker heifer who recovered from a nearly fatal liver condition when she was younger, is considered a leader of the cracker herd — second only to the alpha — and among the mixed herd, she’s by far considered the smartest, according to a Facebook post by Crowley’s staff.

Usually, the herd's 12 cattle are allowed to roam all of the nature center’s 191 acres along the Myakka River, staff wrote. “We’ve let them loose during smaller storms as well. They always know where to go and where to return. Who leads them back? Red. No matter where they are, she knows where to come back to.”

• Stay up-to-date by viewing all Hurricane Ian coverage on Patch here.

Two days before Hurricane Ian battered the region, it was raining constantly, and the herd was missing. Museum staff searched for them by foot and also used their Gator Utility Vehicle to travel the property, but the animals were nowhere to be found.

So, they took their Argo, an amphibious all-terrain vehicle, “to some of the worst parts of the property that are already holding water due to the rainy season,” Crowley staff wrote. “It was there we found them in the northwest part of the property. We tried to lure them with all manner of treats. We tried driving them, in all ways. We got to a creek. They wouldn’t cross. No matter what. No matter where.”

Crowley’s workers were desperate, worried that if the herd didn’t move, they would be lost to the powerful hurricane heading their way. But the cattle were scared of encountering alligators in the creek, even after staff “chased them off,” according to the Facebook post. “They could still smell them. They are not stupid. But they had to cross. Had to.”

In a last-ditch effort, they turned to Red for help.

“I talked out loud to Red. I crossed the black water to her. Gave her a snack. I pleaded with her,” staff wrote. “Then, defeated, in the rain, the mosquitoes, and knee deep in the creek, I sang a song. A goofy song I’d sing when I pet her when she was ill. ‘I love you a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck, I love you, a barrel and heap a barrel and a heap and a kiss upon the cheek.’”

Red watched and listened at first. Then, the second time they sang the song, she took a step forward toward the bank, then another — cautiously — until she finally put one hoof in the water and began to make her way across the creek.

“Now we had an audience. 22 large bovine eyeballs watched the entire show. We were the test; would the gator get us?” staff wrote. “Would we drown? Would we fall into some cow-hell-oblivion? Could the annoying singing human with a hillbilly twang prevent Red from being harmed? Would Red get a sweet snack? They watched. Then suddenly my girl was there. Ears forward, eyes wide, wet nose blowing air that smells of grass clippings, then giving me the drooly sandpaper kisses that she’s known for.”

Red finished crossing the creek with the staff member. On the other bank, after a snack, “she lulled and the herd answered her, a loud and drawn ‘moooooooo.’ A call for crossing right where we did. A call the herd answered,” the Facebook post read.

Once safely across, workers guided the herd to a concrete cabin built by Crowley Museum founder, Jasper Crowley, in the 1940s.

Related Stories:

• Hurricane Ian: 94 Dead, Storm's Toll On Elderly, 56K Without Power
• Support Hurricane Relief Efforts: How To Donate In Sarasota, Manatee
• Beware Of Scams, Fraud In Wake Of Hurricane Ian, FL Officials Say
• Woman Killed In ATV Crash On Washed-Out Myakka City Road: FHP
• More Than 200 Cows Die At Myakka City Dairy Farm During Hurricane Ian

The plan was to drive them the rest of the way back to the museum area later that day, staff wrote. About a half hour later, though, they saw the herd, led by Red, making their way back upland on their own, and they were secured in a field to weather Hurricane Ian.

The morning after the storm, staff immediately went to Crowley, and after cutting away downed oak trees and debris, ran to the field to check on the herd.

They “did a quick count and there were 12 cows. All 12 of our cows were alive. And so was Emma (the center’s Florida cracker horse) … There they stood in the middle of a dry pasture in the sunshine and the cool breeze,” staff wrote. “All unharmed as massive trees around them were down. Fences crushed. They were there on the only dry safe place on the property. All because of our beautiful and smart Red.”

If the herd had remained where it was during the hurricane, “we would’ve lost all of them,” Crowley staff added. “The flash flooding was terrible and much deeper than the tallest among them, Charlotte, who is a Watusi. They would’ve been caught, disoriented, exposed and cold. I have no doubt that we would’ve lost them all. They are not only livestock; they are pets, and an important part of the Crowley animal education team that reaches thousands of children per year.”

Post hurricane, Crowley Museum & Nature Center remains closed to the public for repairs, according to its website.

There are hundreds of trees down across the Crowley property, including some that fell on the historic buildings and tool barn, which will cost more than $20,000 to remove, the organization told Patch.

The museum is collecting donations for its recovery efforts on its website here. To have donations matched, donate through the Louis & Gloria Flanzer Philanthropic Trust here and select Crowley Museum & Nature Center as the recipient.

The museum and nature center are located on a portion of a farmstead established in 1878 and offer visitors a look at the history and lives of early Florida settlers. An Aug. 31 conservation agreement between the museum, the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast and Sarasota County provides permanent protection to the Crowley property.