BLUEBELL the black cow, who diced with death many times during an amazing escape from the slaughterhouse, yesterday licked the coat of her new-born calf until it glistened like a great treacle toffee.

This was mother love and it told us that, at some point on her quest for freedom, Bluebell had a close encounter with a bull.

And the result of that liaison has been named Belana after a self-willed character, half human and half Klingon, in the TV series Star Trek Voyager.

"You know this is the happiest day of my life," said Matilda Mench, the animal-lover who adopted Bluebell.

She stepped gingerly through the long-grass towards the mother suckling her baby.

Under the shelter of an oak tree just a few yards from here, Belana was born.

The promise from Matilda and her partner, veteran Southport animal rights campaigner Tony Moore, is that Bluebell and her calf will live happily and in safety for the rest of their days.

The couple run the charity, Fight Against Animal Cruelty in Europe. Although most of their work is dedicated to ending bullfighting and other blood fiestas, they were contacted when Bluebell was found alone in a wood in Neston, South Wirral, in February.

Geoffrey Nicholls, a vegetarian farmer in the area, had been bringing bales of hay to the Aberdeen Angus cow, but felt her future would be secured if she was adopted.

Tony and Matilda discovered that Bluebell had made her run for freedom in September when 20 cattle were being loaded on to a truck in Ledsham.

In her two-mile dash, she leapt barbed wire fences and forded a fast-flowing brook. Police were alerted when she was spotted hoofing among the morning commuters on the four-lane Chester High Road.

Bovines usually have a strong herding instinct, but Bluebell seemed to settle in the wood by herself, though there wasn't sufficient suitable food.

Tony and Matilda visited her regularly until she was prepared to take food from their hands. Then they made arrangements for her to live in a nearby field for £15 a week. At this stage, they didn't realise Blue was pregnant but Matilda had noted that she was quite broad in the beam.

Nobody knows when Belana was conceived but Tony and Matilda had intended being present at the birth.

Tony said: "We came here about 10.30am.

"We began to think that she might have tried to give birth but failed because she was making a terrible noise which is a bit unusual for a cow. At one point we thought that she

might even have to have a Caesarian section."

Veterinary experts at the nearby Leahurst field station, Liverpool University's animal centre, were alerted and Tony and Matilda went to get a trailer and a calf to tempt Bluebell into it.

"But when we came back she had already given birth, cleaned the calf and had her up on her legs," said Tony.

Now Matilda, 40, who already has a close bond with Bluebell, will be getting to know Belana.

"I am delighted that we have Bela-na," she said. "But I am even more glad that Bluebell is fine because I was so afraid for her life when I was told she was in trouble.

"I love cattle and it is wonderful to see a calf growing up from the beginning and to know that it won't be slaughtered and eaten."

In different circumstances, Belana would have been fattened up for about 18 months before being sold for meat.

News of Bluebell's original escape appeared in newspapers and magazines all over the world.

Already Tony and Matilda have had e-mails and phone calls from animal lovers congratulating them on the birth of Belana.

"I feel like a proud grandmother," said Matilda. Congratulations are pouring in," added Tony with a smile.

* DONATIONS to FAACE are received at 29, Shakespeare Street, Southport, Merseyside. PR8 5AB.