Bulgarian cow is pardoned after incursion in foreign territory

Penka, a Bulgarian cow destined to sacrifice for having entered Serbia, outside the European Union (EU), to be later returned to its country of origin, has finally been pardoned, announced on Monday the veterinary authorities of Bulgaria, after submitting to a series of veterinary tests.

Laboratory tests done on this red heifer, originally from the west of the country, from where he crossed the border with Serbia in an oversight, "gave negative results to all tests on (possible) diseases," the Bulgarian security agency said on Monday. the food.

"She will not be sacrificed and will return with her herd from here to the weekend," Ekaterina Stoilova, spokeswoman for the agency, confirmed to AFP.

Penka escaped on May 12 when her herd passed through the Bulgarian village of Kopilovtsi. Her pilgrimage took her to nearby Serbia. Picked up by a farmer from this country, who identified it by its distinctive (traceability), fifteen days later it was returned to its owner, Ivan Haralampiev.

It was then that Penka's ordeal began: the European rules, particularly strict on the importation of standing animals, required that the cow had a veterinary certificate to confirm her perfect health before returning to the EU. In the absence of it, the Bulgarian authorities demanded that it be sacrificed.

Given the situation, the owner, desperate, launched a call for public solidarity to save the slaughterhouse, and the history of bovine was collected by the European media and social networks.

More than 25,000 people signed an online petition for clemency for Penka submitted to the European institutions. Even the exbeatle Paul McCartney embraced this cause in social networks, through the hashtag #SavePenka. This issue was also discussed in depth during a daily session of the European Commission.

However, Penka spent all this time in quarantine, without the stress of media pressure.

Haralampiev expressed his enormous emotion before the media this Monday: "I am very well known to all those who (even) from the other side of the world defended my poor animal, they have no idea about the stress that this has caused me, but it was worth the sorrow…".

This modest farmer, however, instead of reprimanding the naughty Penka, announced that he will reward her with "luxury fodder" and "many caresses", since he has become "very special" for the family.