Sanctuary Steer 'in Love' with Runaway Cow Helps Save Shy Bovine from Slaughter (Exclusive)

Bonnie the cow now lives at Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary in New York after escaping a farm and finding a friend

• Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary recently found one of their rescue animals, Owen the steer, outside the sanctuary fence hanging out with a cow

• The sanctuary later found out that the cow had escaped a nearby farm where she was set to be slaughtered in a few months

• After a discussion with the cow's owner, Safe Haven was able to change the animal's fate.

Owen helped shepherd his "special relationship" to safety.

Ellen Crain, the executive director of Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary, recently found the steer on the wrong side of the New York sanctuary's fence with a new friend.

"We saw one of our very tall male cows, rescued from the dairy industry, whose name is Owen, standing in the high grass in a meadow above our cow pasture. He had jumped over the fence and gone into the neighbor's property," Crain tells PEOPLE.

"As we approached him, we saw he was standing next to a much shorter cow. We coaxed Owen back into his home pasture, but when we did, the smaller cow turned away and went into the brush," she adds.

Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary is home to 173 rescue animals. "Some have escaped live meat markets and slaughterhouses; some were dumped in parks or other public areas; others have escaped ritual slaughter; and yet others have come from families whose lives have changed, and they can no longer care for them," Crain explains.

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Once an animal arrives at Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary, it is provided "a lifelong, loving home." So when Owen wandered off the premises, he was quickly rounded up and welcomed back. But the cow Owen jumped the fence to meet, lick, and groom was a stranger to Safe Haven. Despite being a newcomer, it was clear the cow, later named Bonnie, had made an impression on Owen quickly, so the sanctuary kept an eye out for the cow, who continued to return to the fence surrounding the facility.

"It seemed as if he was very attracted to her," Crain remembers of Owen's reaction to Bonnie. "When we coaxed Owen back into our pasture, Bonnie would often come to the pasture fence to stand near him. It appeared that she was as attracted to Owen as he was to her, and his presence might have kept her near our property. They acted like they had fallen in love."

Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary employees made several attempts to get close to Bonnie during her visits to see Owen. Still, whenever a person managed to get near her, Bonnie would clamber away into the nearby brush.

"She seemed very interested in the animals and people at Safe Haven but shy," Crain says.

Because Bonnie looked like a breed of cow typically raised for beef production, the sanctuary thought the cow could be a runaway from a local farm with beef cows.

"I called the farmer to ask if he had lost a cow. He said he had no idea, but he would check. He called back to say yes, he had lost a cow," Crain says. "She had lived there for the first two years of her life (until she ran away). We don't know anything about what life was like for Bonnie on his farm, but the farmer did tell us he planned to send her to slaughter in two months."

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The farm Bonnie escaped from is half a mile from Safe Haven, but still a treacherous course for a cow. According to Crain, Bonnie had to "climb up a pretty steep hill and make her way through the woods and then down a hill through the neighbor's grassy meadow" to reach the sanctuary from the farm.

Between Owen's interest in Bonnie and the cow's upcoming slaughter date, Safe Haven was eager to add the cow to its herd but knew welcoming Bonnie to the sanctuary wasn't as easy as opening the fence.

"In the United States, animals are the property of their owners, so we could not simply let Bonnie join our herd. The farmer could have us arrested for stealing his property," Crain says.

After Bonnie spent days roaming near the sanctuary, evading capture, the farmer "came over to our sanctuary, and after much discussion, he agreed to relinquish Bonnie to Safe Haven," the executive director adds. "When that happened, we were able to find Bonnie and encourage her to come through an open gate to join Owen and the rest of our herd."

Today, Bonnie doesn't have to worry about a slaughter date. She spends her time enjoying Owen's company and has befriended the rest of the herd.

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"Bonnie and Owen spend lots of time together, and Owen often licks and grooms her, and they graze together. Bonnie has developed other friendships and often grazes with an older cow who came here with her mother but never made close friends with the others. Bonnie and Own do have a special relationship. No matter where he is in the pasture, Owen always notices if Bonnie is happy and comfortable, but he never shows jealousy if Bonnie is enjoying the company of another cow," Crain shares.

She believes Owen and Bonnie's love story is a fine example of what cows and other farm animals are capable of feeling.

"This story of Bonnie reveals that cows are capable of independent action and rich emotion. When Bonnie left the place she was living, she found her way to our sanctuary on her own," Crain says. "The journey wasn't easy. When she saw Owen, she seemed attracted to him. When she remained near our sanctuary's perimeter, it seemed that she wanted us to let her in. Once she joined our herd, she and Owen showed considerable affection for each other."