Rosa (26 May 2001 – 14 July 2020) was a Spanish-born Landes cow known for her participation in the French game show ''

Intervilles ''Intervilles'' is a French comedy game show first broadcast in 1962. The show was based on a previous Italian programme. It featured teams representing towns in France competing in a series of games, some of which involved live cows and bulls ( ...

''. She became a popular part of the programme due to her intelligence and aggressiveness. She died in 2020 after suffering from a gastric illness.

Early life

Rosa was born in

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populatio ...

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. She was born distinctive from the other black cows by having a black face and white body. A year after her birth, she joined the breeding herd of the Labat family in France where she grew up after being spotted by Jean-Pierre Labat whilst on a visit for breeding cattle. The Labat family historically provided cows for use in ''Intervilles''. She was given a trial in Germany for ''Intervilles''. Despite initially appearing shy in the trial, the programme's producer Yves Launoy selected Rosa for the televised programme due to her unique skin colours despite Jean-Pierre Labat arguing that there were better cows.

''Intervilles''

Rosa made her debut on ''Intervilles'' in 2004. During her time in the games, she was recognised for her aggression towards contestants but also her intelligence in needing to knock down sets and prevent contestants from scoring. Despite her aggressiveness, she would not attack contestants when they were on the ground. When it came to a game around pushing contestants into a pool, she would approach them slowly without aggression running her horns against the legs of contestants to see if they would dive or not. Due to her popularity, she was given her own game called "Rosa Strike" based upon bowling. She only missed one season of ''Intervilles'' when she gave birth to a calf. Due to her popularity, she was featured in the ''Intervilles'' video game for the

Nintendo Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

. Even after ''Intervilles'' finished, fans of the programme would visit the Labat farm in order to see Rosa.

Farm life and death

Following her retirement from televised competition, Rosa adopted a role as head of the herd at the Labat family farm, often leading the other cows. She continued to tour France taking part in similar style games to ''Intervilles'' until 2020 when she was retired to pasture. Later in 2020, she started losing weight and she died of a gastric illness on 14 July 2020.

References

{{Reflist Individual cows Deaths in France French television personalities 2001 animal births 2020 animal deaths Individual animals in France Individual animals in Spain Individual animals in sport