Percy the lost calf heading home

Percy the calf has been reunited with his mom.

The orphaned Charolais calf was found near Concession Road 2 by engineers at a Nanticoke refinery. The calf still had his umbilical cord attached.

Tammy Gaboury, the animal care manager at the Welland and District Humane Society, said the owner of the calf was identified and the calf has gone to join his mother.

“He made the trip down to us yesterday along with the mother so they could be reunited immediately. So it was a pretty happy occasion. She was bawling pretty loudly when she realized her baby was close by,” Gaboury said.

Gaboury said it was important to reunite the two as soon as possible to insure the calf would be healthy. She said although the supplement milk is sufficient, it doesn’t compare to the nutrients in the mother’s milk.

Gaboury said the mother would also start grieving the loss of her calf soon after the separation. Animals tend to develop bonds with each other.

The farmer asked not to be named due to harassing phone calls received after the Tribune’s initial article was published about the calf. Gaboury said a number of farmers received phone calls from animal activists shaming the cattle farming industry.

Gaboury said the farmer still doesn’t know how the mother escaped the property.

“It is a large chunk of land, so he is working to locate where she could have escaped. Chances are she was spooked by something where she gave birth to the baby ... where she went running to take cover ... which is how he ended up by himself,” Gaboury said.

Percy and his mother are part of the farmer’s breeding stock.

JULIE JOCSAK/STANDARD STAFF Kristen Smith, animal care officer, feeds Percy, a newborn calf that was found near the train tracks in Nanticoke with the umbilical cord still attached. With his mother is nowhere to be found, staff at the Humane Society are baffled as to how he got...