Real Life Runaway Cow to Inspire Hollywood Film

BERLIN (Reuters) - Yvonne the German cow evaded helicopter searches, dodged the hunter's gun and even eschewed her calf and best friend for a life on the run.

Now the tale of the runaway cow, who captivated the nation last year when she bolted from her farm to escape slaughter and roamed free in the Bavarian countryside for three months, will provide fodder for a Hollywood animated film.

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"Cow on the Run," based on the daring dairy cow's escapades in the wild, will be produced by Munich-based film company Papa Loewe and American film producer Max Howard, whose previous credits include Walt Disney's "The Lion King."

Michael Aufhauser, founder of the Gut Aiderbichl animal sanctuary in southern Germany, which now looks after Yvonne, said the film was going to be "very romantic."

"Yvonne even falls in love with a buck," he said of the film which is set to hit the silver screen in 2014.

The farmyard fugitive broke through an electric fence on a farm near the Bavarian town of Muehldorf in May last year.

Yvonne lived happily off the land for three months until she landed on a "most wanted" list after bolting in front of a police car. Authorities deemed the runaway a security risk and gave hunters the go ahead to gun her down.

But Yvonne foiled numerous attempts to capture her, and thwarted plans by animal activists to lure her back to the farmyard using her own calf, her friend and a breeding bull named Ernst.

The canny cow was eventually captured in September after receiving a double dose of tranquilizers and was taken to the animal sanctuary after more than 90 days in the wild.

"People thought she was a dumb cow and would not know what to do in the wild," Aufhauser said.

"But she was so clever, nobody could catch her and that amazed people."