Around 2200HRS last night, as I was patrolling a warehouse district, I spotted a single, obviously lost, COW walking down the middle of the road. I radioed dispatch, having NO IDEA of the what was about to unfold....
This would have been funny, if not for the nearby bypass, where cars regularly travel in excess of 75mph. Guess WHERE this cow was headed...? YEP!
Dispatch advised me that they had received a call from a guy stating he had a trailer, and if I could keep the cow in sight, he'd be there in 5 minutes to load it up. Riiiiight....
3 HOURS later, myself, another city officer, my shift supervisor, a state patrol officer, the guy with the trailer....and a veternarian are 'pursuing' this cow through a residential neighborhood.
It had successfully negotiated crossing the bypass(it couldn't have picked a better time, since there was little traffic at that hour), and had headed up the main drag into town, narrowly missing being struck by several vehicles. We were now over a mile from where I had originally spotted it.
After 3 hours of chasing this beast from one block to the next, having it double back on us several times, I asked my SGT if it wasn't time for a '.75 pursuit termination'. He was almost ready to agree with me, but opted to give the vet 'one last chance.'
I wasn't raised on a farm/ranch, but I am familiar with the way MOST cows act around humans. This cow didn't act 'normal', in that it didn't respond to feed, truck horns, herding, etc....like other cows I've dealt with. My 'guess' is that it was the 'product' of a commercial operation and had managed to 'escape' from a cattle truck. There were NO farms, ranches, etc in the area I originally spotted this cow.
ANYway.....after 3+ hours of 'giving chase', we finally 'corralled' it in a blackberry lot and got it lassoed. It took 8 of us and a cattle prod to 'coax' this cow into the trailer.
After securing the trailer gate, my SGT radioed dispatch:
'204'
'Go ahead, 204'
'10-15 x 1 cow...advised the jail to have someone meet us at the kitchen door...'
You've gotta love small towns......
[ 09-15-2002, 11:44 PM: Message edited by: shooter1201 ]
This would have been funny, if not for the nearby bypass, where cars regularly travel in excess of 75mph. Guess WHERE this cow was headed...? YEP!
Dispatch advised me that they had received a call from a guy stating he had a trailer, and if I could keep the cow in sight, he'd be there in 5 minutes to load it up. Riiiiight....
3 HOURS later, myself, another city officer, my shift supervisor, a state patrol officer, the guy with the trailer....and a veternarian are 'pursuing' this cow through a residential neighborhood.
It had successfully negotiated crossing the bypass(it couldn't have picked a better time, since there was little traffic at that hour), and had headed up the main drag into town, narrowly missing being struck by several vehicles. We were now over a mile from where I had originally spotted it.
After 3 hours of chasing this beast from one block to the next, having it double back on us several times, I asked my SGT if it wasn't time for a '.75 pursuit termination'. He was almost ready to agree with me, but opted to give the vet 'one last chance.'
I wasn't raised on a farm/ranch, but I am familiar with the way MOST cows act around humans. This cow didn't act 'normal', in that it didn't respond to feed, truck horns, herding, etc....like other cows I've dealt with. My 'guess' is that it was the 'product' of a commercial operation and had managed to 'escape' from a cattle truck. There were NO farms, ranches, etc in the area I originally spotted this cow.
ANYway.....after 3+ hours of 'giving chase', we finally 'corralled' it in a blackberry lot and got it lassoed. It took 8 of us and a cattle prod to 'coax' this cow into the trailer.
After securing the trailer gate, my SGT radioed dispatch:
'204'
'Go ahead, 204'
'10-15 x 1 cow...advised the jail to have someone meet us at the kitchen door...'
You've gotta love small towns......

[ 09-15-2002, 11:44 PM: Message edited by: shooter1201 ]
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