Amazed By Arkansas: Lurch the Steer Making a Comeback

He is an oddity that brings people from near and far. Lurch is an African Watusi steer, a rare sight in North America by itself.
But it's his distinctive and extraordinarily large horns that make lurch an attraction to young and old.

The Watusi breed in known for it's distinctive horns, but Lurch has adornments of record size. In fact Lurch is a Guinness Book world record holder.

Keeper Janice Wolf explains, "They were very excited because he was so much bigger than anything they'd every heard of. And we did the whole certification process and no sooner than we had done that, a few months later he actually grew and broke his own record. And he's still growing. His horns are still growing."

Wolf takes care of Lurch, and a varied assortment of other animals at the Rocky Ridge Animal Refuge near Gassville.

Janice and Lurch are no strangers to television. They've been featured on the Ellen show, and for some reason Lurch is a popular curiosity with the TV audience in Japan.

But last winter Lurch took a turn for the worse. And Janice thought she would lose him.

"He came this close to dying a couple times. I mean the bloat was painful and kept him from eating. And I would just kind of day by day wrestle with the decision. But then he would kind of bounce back and eat and do good. So I didn't want to prematurely say this is it. But it was rough. And he got to the point where I notified my friends that he had just a few days left and I was making plans."

Lurch developed a tumor in one of his massive horns, perhaps as large as 50 pounds.
There was little the vet could do, so Janice tried a little doctoring of her own - adding homeopathic remedies to each of Lurch's meals.

Wolf explains as she readies Lurch's meal, "These are made for colic type things, bloating and colic type things. And the good thing about homeopathy is, it's the same dose weather you're a dog or a cow. You don't have to increase it. I do a lot of herbal medicine, and this is for inflammation and immune system and an all around boost."

Perhaps it was the medicated meals. Perhaps it was the unusually mild summer, but Lurch has made a miraculous comeback.

He's put on almost 200 pounds and pals around with his buddy Wade the water buffalo.
And he happily puts up with the car loads of visitors who come for a look at his magnificent horns.

The tumor is still there - weighing down his right horn. And Janice knows he's lived a long life.
But she's pleased her big bovine is feeling better and enjoying his days again.
It seems Lurch isn't ready for that big ranch in the sky anytime soon.