In what’s easily the most egregious theft of a restaurant mascot since the “kid”-napping of Cabrito’s pink goat (by the way, what’s going to happen with that sucker now that the taqueria is rebranding?), the folks at Union Square burger joint Stand tell us that its signature American-flag cow was stolen from Bryant Park. Why was it there in the first place? Well, some PR genius had the idea of making the cow part of a scavenger hunt, and asked readers via Twitter and Facebook to report sightings as it moved from Washington Square to Grand Central to Union Square. Fake “MISSING” posters encouraged participants to try to win freebies, until one day the cow actually did go missing.
Apparently the NYPD and the city told Stand it wasn’t their doing, so the burger joint is considering this a robbery. Did Eddie Furlong set it free? Whoever’s keeping this thing in their apartment, send us a photo — we want to know if a star-spangled cow fills out a living room like a Ronald McDonald does.
