NORTH WATERBORO — How does a 700 pound, year-old white-faced Hereford heifer just “wander” away?

Well, if there’s the will, apparently there’s the way. State Sen. David Woodsome, to whom the cow belongs, said it appears the heifer, dubbed “Wanda” since her disappearance, is still walkabout, a week after she was seen walking down Route 5.

Wanda arrived at the Woodsome farm Sunday May 31 from the James Carll farm, where she was raised. When Woodsome looked out in the pasture the following morning, June 1, before he left for Augusta, the cow was there.

“I said good, she’s content,” said Woodsome, who drove off to the Legislature.

Except things changed as the day wore on.

“I got a call at 6 p.m. that night, saying ”˜your cow is walking down Route 5,’” Woodsome said in a telephone interview from the state capital Monday night. He said the caller, who was trying to keep track of the cow in order to fetch her back to the farm later, told Woodsome she walked a mile, turned right on Clark’s Bridge Road and then walked left onto Old Bagley Road

“They followed her to check on her and she bolted,” said Woodsome. “She was on a mission.”

He said it appears Wanda got out of the fenced pasture by bashing into a corner of the fence which loosened a board.

There’s been no positive sighting since, except for a third-hand account. The senator is hoping she’s headed back toward the Carll farm.

And she could be, but Carll pointed put that as far as he’s aware, cows don’t have a homing instinct. He said Wanda will likely show up in a field at some point.

“If she’s in the woods, she’ll survive on leaves,” Carll said. But he thinks her desire for grass and hay will cause the young heifer to show up in an open space.

Woodsome, home from Augusta this past weekend, went knocking on doors to alert folks in the area she was missing and asking them to keep a lookout.

A retired schoolteacher, Woodsome was elected senator for District 33 in November. He was raised on a farm and always kept a few cattle.

“I like to farm,” he said, but farming took a back seat when he was elected, and so Woodsome limited himself to just one cow, Wanda.

Her disappearance has caused a chuckle or two. Woodsome mentioned the cow’s disappearance on his Facebook page, and later, one of his daughters, Washington, D.C. journalist Kate Woodsome, wrote a blog about Wanda, the wandering heifer.

Daughter Meaghan Woodsome, a marketing and communications consultant had this to say:

“The people want a cow update,” she said on her father’s Facebook page June 2. “Its time for a bovine bulletin.”

“Seems its always something or udder,” another fellow quipped.

Someone else speculated Wanda had been “cowjacked.”

David’s brother, Andy Woodsome, said Monday he’d been told second hand that a cow had been seen, but the person who mentioned it had no specifics. He recalled 60 years ago, another cow took off, but was later found and returned to the pasture.

David Woodsome said he’s had cows get out of a fenced pasture before, but they always hung around just outside the fence.

He figures Wanda is in an area between Route 5 and Middle Road. Anyone sighting her can call him at 432-5643 or call his brother during the day at Woodsome Feeds and Needs at 247-5777.

He said she’s confident Wanda is okay.

A friend said he should rename her “Stay-C,” when she returns.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.