BERLIN // Doubts are growing that Yvonne the fugitive celebrity cow will ever be caught.
She is growing more canny by the day and appears to be enjoying life in the Bavarian forest where she has been hiding since she escaped slaughter in May.
"They're not going to get her," said Carsten Rehder, a cattle expert. Hitting Yvonne with a tranquilising dart is difficult because it could be deflected by tree branches, he said. "She's finding enough to eat at the moment. They should simply wait until it gets colder and then lure her out with food."
Michael Aufhauser, founder and manager of Gut Aiderbichl, the animal charity that has purchased Yvonne and wants to give her sanctuary, has vowed he will not give up trying to catch her alive.
But time may be running out for the six-year-old, brown-and-white cow that ran away from a farm in the village of Aschau three months ago.
The local authority has warned it may reinstate a kill order next week because Yvonne, weighing 600 kilos, poses a risk to traffic.
"We will never abandon the search," Mr Aufhauser told The National. "We're checking the temperature of every cowpat we find to determine when she dropped it. We're taking this very seriously," he said, laughing.
"One tracker was so paranoid about giving himself away that he went through the forest in his socks because I'd told him, 'Whatever you do, be quiet!'"
Yvonne, described as unfeasibly intelligent, has become an international media star in the course of her adventures. She eluded a helicopter equipped with a heat-seeking camera and ignored a love trap featuring an attractive ox called Ernst.
"Our wild animal expert encountered her at 1.55am on Monday. He had been lying in wait in a ditch and she emerged out of the mist. They stared into each other's eyes," said Mr Aufhauser. "He needed her to turn her head and keep still for him to get a clear shot. But she just walked off, as usual.
"He said afterwards that Yvonne has developed back into a wild animal. She had the same expression as a buffalo, and the way she was holding her neck showed that she's no longer a dairy cow but an agile, free animal."
Mr Aufhauser admitted that the hunt for Yvonne was becoming more difficult and said his team, which numbers three trackers, would change its strategy.
"What Yvonne needs now is peace. Every step we take to catch her makes her more skilful. She has wised up to telltale sounds like car doors, mobile phones and walkie talkies," he said.
"She now knows that if she wanders out of the woods in the afternoon, the hunters will come because they'll have finished their lunch. But if she comes out at 3am, she knows they won't be there and she can look for water in peace. She needs 120 litres a day."
The priority now, Mr Aufhauser said, was to observe Yvonne rather than actively pursue her. "If we find she has settled down somewhere, we'll call in more people. And we've still got the trump card, Friesi, her calf, with which to attract her."
He said Yvonne was using senses that had developed in cattle over millions of years. "We think we've domesticated them just because we've been locking them up for 3,000 years. That's rubbish. You can't undo evolution."
He dismissed a claim by one wildlife expert that Yvonne had put on 100 kilograms on a rich diet of apples, maize and juicy grass available in the woods. "She's probably just looking bigger because she has become more shaggy in the wild. If she managed to put on that much weight in such a short time, the price of beef would plummet."
Mr Aufhauser, whose charity for neglected animals comprises 20 sites, also shrugged off calls by Hindu leaders to protect Yvonne.
"Our cattle are as holy to us as they are to Hindus. We're positively Indian here," said Mr Aufhauser. "Cows stroll up to us when we're having coffee and steal milk off the table. And if anyone lifted a finger to stop them, they would get into trouble! We are mild and gentle. We have 400 cows and not a single stick."
The sanctuary is so concerned for the runaway cow's welfare that it has purchased Friesi, and her sister, Waltraud, to keep Yvonne company when, or rather if, she decides to abandon the comforts of the Bavarian wilderness.
[ dcrossland@thenational.ae ]
Results
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Rawat Al Reef, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Noof KB, Richard Mullen, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Seven Skies, Bernardo Pinheiro, Qaiss Aboud
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Jabalini, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: UAE Arabian Derby – Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Dergham Athbah, Richard Mullen, Mohamed Daggash
7.30pm: Emirates Championship – Group 1 (PA) Dh1,000,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Somoud, Richard Mullen, Jean de Roualle
8pm: Abu Dhabi Championship – Group 3 (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Irish Freedom, Antonio Fresu, Satish Seemar
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
Avatar (2009)
Director: James Cameron
Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver
Rating: 3/5
MIDWAY
Produced: Lionsgate Films, Shanghai Ryui Entertainment, Street Light Entertainment
Directed: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Darren Criss
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
The low down
Producers: Uniglobe Entertainment & Vision Films
Director: Namrata Singh Gujral
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Nargis Fakhri, Bo Derek, Candy Clark
Rating: 2/5
Results
1. Mathieu van der Poel (NED) Alpecin-Fenix - 3:45:47
2. David Dekker (NED) Jumbo-Visma - same time
3. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
4. Emils Liepins (LAT) Trek-Segafredo
5. Elia Viviani (ITA) Cofidis
6. Tadej Pogacar (SLO UAE Team Emirates
7. Anthony Roux (FRA) Groupama-FDJ
8. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:00:03
9. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep
10. Fausto Masnada (ITA) Deceuninck-QuickStep
T20 World Cup Qualifier fixtures
Tuesday, October 29
Qualifier one, 2.10pm – Netherlands v UAE
Qualifier two, 7.30pm – Namibia v Oman
Wednesday, October 30
Qualifier three, 2.10pm – Scotland v loser of qualifier one
Qualifier four, 7.30pm – Hong Kong v loser of qualifier two
Thursday, October 31
Fifth-place playoff, 2.10pm – winner of qualifier three v winner of qualifier four
Friday, November 1
Semi-final one, 2.10pm – Ireland v winner of qualifier one
Semi-final two, 7.30pm – PNG v winner of qualifier two
Saturday, November 2
Third-place playoff, 2.10pm
Final, 7.30pm
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Haltia.ai
Started: 2023
Co-founders: Arto Bendiken and Talal Thabet
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: AI
Number of employees: 41
Funding: About $1.7 million
Investors: Self, family and friends
The biog
Mission to Seafarers is one of the largest port-based welfare operators in the world.
It provided services to around 200 ports across 50 countries.
They also provide port chaplains to help them deliver professional welfare services.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company Profile
Company name: Yeepeey
Started: Soft launch in November, 2020
Founders: Sagar Chandiramani, Jatin Sharma and Monish Chandiramani
Based: Dubai
Industry: E-grocery
Initial investment: $150,000
Future plan: Raise $1.5m and enter Saudi Arabia next year
Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers Pickford (Everton), Pope (Burnley), Henderson (Manchester United)
Defenders Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Chilwell (Chelsea), Coady (Wolves), Dier (Tottenham), Gomez (Liverpool), James (Chelsea), Keane (Everton), Maguire (Manchester United), Maitland-Niles (Arsenal), Mings (Aston Villa), Saka (Arsenal), Trippier (Atletico Madrid), Walker (Manchester City)
Midfielders: Foden (Manchester City), Henderson (Liverpool), Grealish (Aston Villa), Mount (Chelsea), Rice (West Ham), Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Winks (Tottenham)
Forwards: Abraham (Chelsea), Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Kane (Tottenham), Rashford (Manchester United), Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Sterling (Manchester City)
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
MATCH INFO
Karnataka Tuskers 110-5 (10 ovs)
Tharanga 48, Shafiq 34, Rampaul 2-16
Delhi Bulls 91-8 (10 ovs)
Mathews 31, Rimmington 3-28
Karnataka Tuskers win by 19 runs
SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
PFA Team of the Year: David de Gea, Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen, Nicolas Otamendi, Marcos Alonso, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Sergio Aguero