Two stray cows have sparked a toxic culture war in a quiet upstate New York town after a vegan activist allegedly held them hostage at his animal sanctuary.
The bizarre and sometimes comical dispute between the local farming community and animal rights activists has sparked violent protests in Newfane, a usually quiet rural neighborhood in Niagara County.
Protesters dressed in cow costumes began barbecuing meat outside the animal shelter to mock its vegan owner.
Actor and renowned vegan Joaquin Phoenix has weighed in on the misconception that cows were named after him.
An evenly matched trial has taken a peculiar turn, with a judge recusing himself from the case after it was revealed he had previously sent messages to the defendant on the dating website Match.com.
Hornee (left), a steer, and Blackee (right), a cow, wandered off a farm and into an animal sanctuary, sparking a toxic culture war between vegans and farmers in upstate New York.
Animal rights activist Tracy Murphy refused to return the cows after they stumbled onto her property, sparking anger in the local community.
Neighbor and farmer Scott Gregson, who owned the animals, was initially frustrated in his attempts to get them back.
But the matter has also taken a dark turn, with both parties receiving death threats. The farmer who tried to get his cows back has received rape threats directed at his children, according to court documents.
The unseemly dispute was sparked when a black cow and a golden-brown steer wandered off a farm belonging to Scott Gregson, 44, on July 16, 2022.
The antics of “Blackee” and “Hornee” were nothing unusual, but they inadvertently sparked all sorts of mischief when they stumbled into a neighboring animal sanctuary run by 59-year-old Tracy Murphy.
He herded them into a pen and immediately notified the local animal control agency, he said. The New York Times.
Six days later, an agency investigator came to check on the cows and learned they had disappeared from Gregson’s farm.
But when the farmer asked for them back, Murphy refused.
Following legal advice, he requested proof that Gregson owned the animals along with $2,500 as payment for nine days of hay, straw and care.
On July 25, Gregson, a former state trooper, arrived at the sanctuary along with an animal control investigator and family members to negotiate.
It didn’t go well.
“I’m going to go get the animals,” Gregson said, according to a video of the exchange filmed by Murphy.
—No, you’re not here to look for the animals —the vegan activist replied.
Murphy then offered an alternative solution: buy the cows from Gregson.
After weeks of wrangling and violent protests, Gregson finally managed to get his cows back, but only after the dispute had sparked a nasty war of words between the two sides.
Murphy posted Gregson’s address and phone number on Facebook. Both sides say they have received death threats as a result of the dispute.
That never happened, nor did she voluntarily return them after the farmer showed receipts proving he owned the cows.
She then rallied the crowd and posted a video of herself and the animals, whom she renamed Little Willow and Ishmael, letting her 22,000 followers know that law enforcement was “violating my civil rights.”
Murphy also posted Gregson’s address and phone number.
It wasn’t long before the farmer began receiving phone calls at his home threatening to rape and kill his children, according to court documents filed by the Niagara County District Attorney’s Office.
Protesters gathered outside their sanctuary, Asha’s Farm, as a parade of cars and tractors drove by, honking their horns and carrying signs reading “Nacho Cows” and “Hide Cows.”
A biker made donuts in Murphy’s backyard.
Others left comments on Facebook calling for her to be lynched.
Two days after the protest, five state troopers, all colleagues of Gregson, executed a search warrant at Asha Farm and arrested Murphy.
Hornee and Blackee were then taken by truck to a secret location for fear of their safety.
Murphy appeared in court that night in shackles and was charged with third-degree larceny, a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
The judge imposed a gag order on him, prohibiting him from publishing any content, on any subject, on social media.
Others spoke on his behalf.
When Oscar winner Phoenix mistakenly learned through misinformation on social media that Murphy had renamed the cows in his honor (he has two other cows named Joaquin and Phoenix), he released a statement to local newspapers.
“To punish so harshly a woman who was simply showing kindness to two individuals who had trespassed on her property is astonishing,” he said.
Actor Joaquin Phoenix, a self-confessed vegan, even intervened because he mistakenly believed Murphy had renamed the cows after him.
However, the majority in Newfane disagreed.
Jim Bittner, a Niagara County Farm Bureau board member and fruit grower, said in a letter to the Union-Sun & Journal: “Two cows wandered onto Asha’s property. Asha’s owners know who these cows belong to, but they refuse to return them. Think about that for a moment. This is just wrong.”
Local rancher Ed Pettit said: “I’m concerned that they feel they have a moral right to confiscate animals that come onto their property and then make it as difficult as possible for the rancher to get them back. I don’t want that to continue.”
Except he did.
One morning, 50 chickens mysteriously disappeared from the farm of local resident Kimberly Simmeth.
Two days earlier, she had criticized an event organized by Right to Rescue, an activist group that enters farms to “free suffering animals.”
The event had been organized by Wayne Hsiung, a prominent animal rights activist and recent addition to Murphy’s legal team.
Murphy had been one of the keynote speakers, invited by Hsiung.
That same week, another local farmer, Paul Strobel, saw two intruders lurking around his cattle gate and filming his livestock.
He chased them, but they managed to escape.
Strobel blamed Murphy for bringing cattle rustlers to Newfane, adding that it would be an “all-out war” against the farmers if she went unpunished.
Murphy has said it has nothing to do with her.
Meanwhile, Hsiung had his law license suspended after being convicted of trespassing on a California farm last November.
Gregson arrived at Murphy’s sanctuary to try to get his animals back nine days after they went missing, sparking a tense standoff in which the vegan refused to return them.
Locals were quick to rally to Gregson’s side, staging protests outside Murphy’s with men dressed in cow costumes, while others grilled steaks to mock vegans.
He no longer represents Murphy.
Newfane Judge Bruce Barnes, who had imposed the gag order, recused himself from the case in September after Murph’s attorney argued that an interaction between the judge and the defendant on Match.com in 2020 made a fair trial of Barnes questionable.
The gag order was lifted and the charge against Murphy was reduced to a misdemeanor charge of petty larceny, which is still punishable by up to a year in prison.
In May, the activist rejected a plea deal that would have allowed her to be convicted of disorderly conduct with a suspended sentence, thus avoiding the immediate threat of jail time.
Murphy took umbrage at a clause requiring him to admit that fighting to conserve animals was wrong.
She did not respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com, but has previously maintained her innocence.
As for Hornee and Blackee, they will no longer play a part in this sad saga. Shortly after Gregson took the cows back from Asha’s farm, he sold them to the slaughterhouse.
