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TIMELINE: How Freddie the Cow Managed To Save His Own Life

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | January 22, 2016 3:56pm

QUEENS — He wanted to "break free" — and he succeeded. 

Freddie, the runaway bull named after Queen singer Freddie Mercury, has had a whirlwind 24 hours since making a swift dash from a Jamaica slaughterhouse Thursday, being returned to certain death by the NYPD, and suddenly finding himself safely shuttled to an animal sanctuary in New Jersey on Friday by an animal rights activist who refused to take no for an answer.

The 1-year-old Hereford bull captured the attention of the public after making a break for it from Archer Halal Live Poultry, on Archer Avenue and 165th Street, on Thursday afternoon, a day before his scheduled slaughter. Little did he know that his cud-chewing chutzpbah would result in his permanent freedom.

Here’s how Freddie managed to save his own life:

Thursday, around 12:10 p.m. — Police receive reports about a loose cow running around Archer and Jamaica avenues.

Look what I just saw on Jamaica avenue son

Posted by Shakeller Thompson on Thursday, January 21, 2016

Thursday, around 12:30 p.m. — Freddie makes a break for it while workers at the Archer Halal Live Poultry, a slaughterhouse on Archer Avenue and 165th Street on Thursday, try to move him into a pen.

He sprints through busy traffic and leads police on a chase down Jamaica Avenue before being lassoed by the NYPD in a parking garage across the street from the slaughterhouse.

(Photo credit: NYPD/103rd Precinct)

(Photo credit: NYPD/103rd Precinct)

(Photo credit: NYPD/103rd Precinct)

Thursday, around 1:15 p.m. — The cow is transported back to the slaughterhouse in a trailer.

(Photo credit: NYPD/103rd Precinct)

Thursday, 1:30 p.m. — Workers at the slaughterhouse said that the cow was scheduled to be killed on Friday. "Tomorrow, we'll it," Archer Halal employee Adad Deopersaud said. "Every Friday we kill animals."

(Photo credit: DNAinfo.com/Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska)

Thursday, around 3 p.m. — Mike Stura, 49, the owner of Skylands Animal Sanctuary And Rescue in Wantage, New Jersey, hears news reports about the cow and immediately calls the slaughterhouse hoping to persuade the owners to give him the animal. Initially, the owners are not willing to let him take the animal, but he decides to drive to New York anyway and talk to them in person.

Thursday, around 7:15 p.m. — Stura arrives at the slaughterhouse but the owners were gone for the day so he sleeps overnight in his truck outside the slaughterhouse, hoping to talk to them in the morning.

Friday, 7 a.m. — Stura is able to speak to the halal slaughterhouse owners who he convinces to give him the animal for free. He promptly names it Freddie after Freddie Mercury of the band Queen, since he was rescued from Queens. Stura takes Freddie to New Jersey.

(Photo credit: Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue)

Friday, around 11 a.m. — Freddie is brought to Newton Veterinary Hospital in New Jersey, where he undergoes a medical checkup.

Friday, around 12 p.m. — Freddie arrives at Skylands Animal Sanctuary And Rescue and joined about 75 other rescues, including sheep, chickens, pigs, turkeys, ducks and geese.