Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
The LambShank Redemption
By
Dave Hogarty
Published Jul 7, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Dave Hogarty
Published Jul 7, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Slaughterhouses may have mostly disappeared from New York City's municipal landscape, but they still exist. They tend to only be noticed when one of their stock escapes imminent death via a bolt for freedom. Unfortunately, the city's streets are barely more hospitable to a farm animal on the loose, once it has escaped the inevitable doom of the urban abattoir. Last month we posted a story about a little lamb (whose fleece was about as white as dirty city snow) that was wandering around the Bronx. After a chase-and-be-chased incident, a man named Julio Rivera managed to corral the lamb into a parking lot, where responding police officers took turns capturing camera phone pics with the animal.
These types of stories crop up on occassion, and the The New York Times addresses what happens to livestock that are captured on the streets of New York. Animal Care & Control cannot take a lamb or a goose to the pound. Instead, the city agency transports the animals to an upstate farm in Watkins Glen called Farm Sanctuary, in New York's Finger Lakes region. The lamb-on-the-lam from the Bronx: she's been named Lucky Lady and is pictured in the Times apparently enjoying her new home, (our pic is from her time of "arrest.")
Farm Sanctuary is directed by Susie Coston, who leads a staff of 16 and has been described as the Jane Goodall of rescued livestock. The facility has operated since 1989 and includes a menagerie of hard luck cases––abandoned pigs and chickens, and a gang of goats from Brooklyn.
If Lucky Lady follows the other sheep and ambles up a hill to the wide pasture where the cows graze, she may meet Queenie, considered one of the heroes of the farm, said Gene Baur, president and founder of Farm Sanctuary.
In 2000, Queenie broke out of a slaughterhouse in Queens and ran free for 20 blocks until the police found her in a playground and shot her with a tranquilizer gun.
If you'd like to visit Lucky Lady, Queenie, or any of the other animals that escaped from non-viable urban situations, Farm Sanctuary loves visitors. Details available here.
Photograph of Lucky Lady by Kathy Willens/AP
Tagged
Animal Care
animals
bronx
brooklyn
city
death
farm sanctuary
Finger Lakes
gun
jane goodall
Kathy Willens
lucky lady
new york
new york city
new york times
parking
police
queens
snow
the city
The New York
the new york times
The Police
watkins glen
Dave Hogarty
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
Published Oct 15, 2026
How the NYC Marathon has changed in the last 50 years
Spoiler alert: It's still 26.2 miles.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Arts & Entertainment
How the NYC Marathon has changed in the last 50 years
Spoiler alert: It's still 26.2 miles.
By
Hannah Frishberg
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
By
Sonia Rao
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
By
James Ramsay
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .