A group of hooded people traipsed across Tower Road last night to reunite a fiberglass calf with its mother, putting an end to an almost four-year-long saga that left many Cornellians scratching their heads. The calf was placed in front of the Dairy Bar at 12:15 a.m. Monday morning according to witnesses who wished to remain anonymous for fear of being associated with the homecoming mission.
Those who returned the cow could not be identified, but they left behind a note signed “Narby Krimsnatch ’59,” stating that the recovered mascot had been taken 350 miles from Cornell.
“A team of student citizens tracked down the cow’s location, and after a tense hostage negotiation, arranged for the cow’s safe return to Cornell, where it belongs,” the note read. “Long live, Cornellia.”
Cornellia the cow became a prized mascot for the Dairy Bar in 1995. When the cow was wrecked by a storm in 2000, the current fiberglass incarnations of Cornellia and her calf were born. Since then, the cows have fallen victim to campus hooliganism.
“Cornell has a wonderful history of pranks and practical jokes, but stealing a campus icon isn’t a prank. It’s theft,” said Corey Earle ’07, associate director of student programs for the Alumni Affairs Office.
First on Aug. 27, 2003, the 150-pound mother cow was stolen from the roof of Stocking Hall. An article published in The Ithaca Journal stated: “Whether the cow jumped over the moon or just into the hands of some mischievous students is anybody’s guess.”
The event shook Cornell’s campus at the time.
“Cows should be safe on our campus, whether they’re plastic or real,” then Cornell spokeswoman Linda Grace-Kobas told The Journal.
A mere two weeks later Cornellia was found in a pen at the College of Veterinary Medicine. According to The Cornell Chronicle, the two Cornell employees who first stumbled across the cow were rewarded with a half-gallon of ice cream from the Dairy Bar every day for one month.
Cornellia and her calf were once again stolen in August 2006 when captors cut through the protective chains that were put in place after the first theft and meant to secure the cow to the foyer of the Dairy Bar. On Nov. 30, 2006, a small group of people returned Cornellia to the pitcher’s mound at Hoy Field according to Sun archives. Her calf remained missing until now.
“I remember when the calf was stolen my senior year, so I’m thrilled that it’s finally been returned to its home,” Earle said.
The two mascots were valued at $1,500 at the time they were stolen in 2006.
Original Author: Sun Staff