Cattle Call: Home Sought For 'Moodini' After Wild Boston Summer Tour

METHUEN, MA — A young steer named "Moodini" for his ability to elude attempts to capture it in Boston for nearly two months this summer will soon be up for adoption to the right home after rehabbing at the MSPCA at Nevins Farm in Methuen.

The steer was first spotted roaming the urban landscape on June 22 but remained out of captivity until Aug. 20 when it was penned in and animal control officers began feeding him with the help of MSPCA assistance.

"We don't often get calls about large animals loose in a city, and when we do, it's usually for wild animals like a moose or a bear, maybe a horse that escaped from a fenced-in area," said Kaycie McCarthy, equine and farm animal outreach and rescue manager at Nevins Farm. "So, this was new territory for us."

Boston Animal Control and the MSPCA's Community Outreach and Law Enforcement teams built a chute using livestock panels roughly 300 feet long to guide Moodini through thick brush into a trailer for transporting.

"The whole process took about two-and-a-half hours and a dozen people," McCarthy added. "But almost all of that time was spent on the complex setup. Once we opened the steer's pen, he took off up the chute and was in the trailer within minutes."

Moodini will not be able to go to his new home until he undergoes state-mandated testing, as well as some medical exams, but McCarthy said Nevins would like to start searching for adopters immediately.

"Moodini is a little thin, which isn't surprising considering he's been living in the woods in Boston for weeks," she said. "He needs to gain at least 50 pounds, and we'll work with him to get there, but we believe he's healthy enough to be rehomed soon."

Nevins officials are looking to place Moodini in a home with adopters who have cattle experience and other cattle to keep him company, as well as the chute needed to best care for him.

"Moodini is also a little skeptical of humans right now, which makes sense given that he's been living feral in the woods for months," McCarthy said. "But we know that he'll open up and be a great addition to the right family, and we want to find them now, so he's able to start his new life as soon as he's ready."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)