Thursday, 4:30 PM
N.H. cow with a spot shaped like the Old Man of the Mountain is dead
(AP photo/handout photo)
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
First, the rock formation known as the Old Man of the Mountain fell, sending the very symbol of New Hampshire tumbling to the forest floor in Franconia Notch State Park.
Now more than four years later comes the death of Bossie the cow, a Holstein that gained some fame in the Granite State because of a white spot that some say mirrored the Old Man's profile.
The 1,000-pound cow was 17 years old and had been suffering from cancer that limited the use of her back legs, according to Bossie's owner, Mickey de Rham. A veterinarian euthanized the cow on Aug. 2.
"I was going to have her taxidermied, but the taxidermist couldn't get here in time," said Rham, who lived with Bossie and a small menagerie in Sugar Hill, near Franconia.
Rham, 71, bought Bossie from a family in Maine for $600 in 1994 when she read about her fortuitous spot. Bossie became a "spokescow" for Rham's White Mountain Animal League, a nonprofit that encourages people to have dogs and cats spayed and neutered to control the pet population.
The cow became a regular at Fourth of July parades in Franconia and Lisbon and wrote a book titled, "Hey Bossie, You're a Spokescow!" Her fame peaked when she appeared at the Museum of New Hampshire History in Concord to help promote an exhibit on dairy history. Bossie was interviewed by a local television newscaster, who made puns about her being "utterly exhausted" and trying to "milk the appearance for all it was worth."
Like the Old Man of the Mountain, Bossie is now a memory, but her campaign continues. She has been immortalized in bumper stickers stuck throughout northern New Hampshire that remind people, “Only we can prevent pet overpopulation!”
"This can go on," Rham said, "even though she is no longer with us."
