Only surviving injured calf from turnpike crash heads to Beaver County rescue ranch
It’s a good thing cows can’t speak English. If they did, Ribeye the calf might be a lot more worried about what his name means for his future.
But the 3-month-old Holstein — one of 135 bull calves involved in a March 3 truck crash on the turnpike — has no such worries after undergoing rehabilitation in Washington Township and moving to a permanent home Sunday at Kindred Spirits Rescue Ranch in Beaver County.
“You’re going to have just the best life,” Kindred Spirits founder Lisa Marie Sopko said as she met Ribeye at the Washington Township farm, which is leased by veterinarians Alexis Baney and Margaret Bojko.
Baney and Bojko have been taking care of Ribeye since the double-decker tractor-trailer carrying him and others to Ohio jackknifed and partially collapsed, injuring a number of cattle. Four calves died in the crash, four were injured, and 127 were unhurt.
“There were four that were pretty critically injured, and they were turned over to Allegheny Equine Associates to take care of,” Baney said. “We brought them back to our clinic and rehabbed them as best we could. Unfortunately, we were only able to save Ribeye; the others were too critically injured.”
Allegheny Equine Associates, as its name implies, typically only cares for horses. Baney and Bojko agreed to care for Ribeye “until we could get him healthy and then look into placing him.”
Sopko’s rescue ranch in Darlington was the perfect solution. From turkeys and chickens to donkeys and cows, Kindred Spirits provides a permanent home for unwanted, abused or disabled agricultural animals.
“We’ll have him here forever,” Sopko said, adding that she has plans to keep Ribeye busy once he gets a little older.
“One of my things has been to find different recreational uses for these animals,” she said. “They can be ridden and trained just like a horse if you spend the time with them.”
Baney said she and Bojko immensely enjoyed spending time with Ribeye.
“He was never supposed to be here for this long, and we really just loved spending time with him,” she said.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.