Throughout this summer, motorists driving down Shelby County 58 in Helena likely noticed an unusual landmark — a 3-foot-tall purple cow standing in a yard close to the BP station.

The cow’s owner, Charity Miller, said the cow, christened MooPsi, has attracted plenty of stares and even more comments, with people even offering to buy it.

Unfortunately, someone must have liked MooPsi a little too much. The cow was taken from Miller’s front yard the night of Aug. 23, and the Millers have heard nothing about it since.

“People say it might have been a college student and she might show up at College Night (at the University of Montevallo) in February,” Miller said.

However, the cow means too much to Miller for her to wait patiently until then.

When her father, Larry Farmer, thought he was dying of throat cancer two years ago, he needed something — anything — to keep his mind off the disease.

Then Miller told him about being part of the purple side of College Night at UM and how the purple side had a cow as a mascot. From there, it was a short step to Farmer’s next project: actually building his daughter a purple cow.

“I’m a purple, and being a mom of three, a wife and a full-time bus driver, it’s hard for me to get involved,” Miller said. “So my contribution is that I’m a supporter.”

Farmer recovered from cancer, and the Millers went to North Carolina to see him and pick up the cow June 1 of this year.

From then on, Miller happily kept MooPsi in her front yard as a conversation piece and a landmark for motorists driving by.

MooPsi has been stolen before, in mid-August. However, the cow was returned the same morning it went missing, and Miller received a call from the owners of the BP station next door saying they had found MooPsi in the car wash.

“We figured a couple of kids were going to take her, and she’s heavier than you think, so they decided the second best prank was to leave her in the car wash,” she said.

However, this time, MooPsi has been gone a month and a half, and Miller said she’s scared the cow is gone for good.

“My biggest fear is that A: someone has used it for firewood already, or B: thrown it away because they’re tired of looking at it,” Miller said.

Miller’s husband, Michael, said he expected the cow would be the brunt of practical jokes, but he wants to see her returned soon.

“I’m surprised it took as long as it did for it to get taken,” he said. “I hate it for (Charity) because it’s really kind of upset her. I’d like to see it come back.”

She said she would gladly forget the theft ever happened if MooPsi is returned.

“No questions asked, and I won’t call the police,” Miller said. “Just leave it in the yard in the middle of the night, and I’ll be happy.”

To give Charity Miller any information about MooPsi, e-mail her at Cmiller8@forum.montevallo.edu.