Children everywhere are crying over spilled milk — Aggie, the Prospect Park Zoo’s beloved cow, died on Wednesday at age 18 of natural causes. A Dexter cow, Aggie lived in the barnyard since her birth in 1993, sharing space with sheep, miniature horses and those pesky alpacas.
Her staccato moos frightened generations of children, but also cheered kids of all ages, many of whom wrote notes that filled her “moo box” and covered a corkboard inside the barn.
“You are beautiful and I would never want to eat you,” wrote one young fan (who clearly miscast affection as vegetarianism). Another wrote, “Dearest Agatha you are the color to my rainbow…”
Dexter cows live an average of 15-20 years. Aggie was strong as an ox and slick as a fox. The Daily News reported in April that Aggie learned how to open the barn doors and eat some of the alpacas’ hay. (Take that, pesky alpacas!)
“Aggie will be greatly missed,” said Denise McClean, director of the Zoo. “People grew up visiting her and came back to the zoo to see her through the years. She had a big personality and loved the attention.”
On Wednesday, kids agreed. “When my kids talk about animals, they always talk about how much they love the cow,” said Desiree Vazquez, whose 8-year-old twins Nina and Camelo had to satisfy themselves with a fake wooden version of Aggie a few feet from the barn.
It’s not the first time that Brooklyn has lost an oversized zoological personality. In 2008, the New York Aquarium lost Ayveq, its famed masturbating walrus.