Brahma cow sculpture appears from nowhere in Cambria resident’s yard

When rancher Walter Fitzhugh went outside his Eton Road home to get his newspaper Saturday morning, Oct. 29, he was confronted by an addition to his “herd” and his yard — something he dubbed a “scare-cow” in honor of the waning days of Cambria’s Scarecrow Festival.

Fitzhugh believes whoever crafted papier-mache into the nearly life-sized Brahma cow sculpture must have known well the model for the artwork: The rancher’s old Brahma cow, Freckles.

The artist “knew enough to put my brand in the right spot” on the scare-cow’s right shoulder.

The replica was so lifelike, it temporarily startled the rancher’s dog, Dozer. When the dog first spotted the replica bovine, Fitzhugh said, the pup “went absolutely nuts.”

It wasn’t easy to make the statue, or to move it, Fitzhugh said. The artist-prankster(s) obviously “had to haul it here in a pickup.”

In the spirit of the prank, the rancher even posted some “wanted” posters, trying to get someone to ’fess up to having created and delivered the campy critter.

This story was originally published November 22, 2016 at 7:18 AM with the headline "Brahma cow sculpture appears from nowhere in Cambria resident’s yard."