Cow Escapes Butcher’s Shop, Leads Police On Dramatic Chase

A 1,000-pound cow about to be slaughtered for meat Friday afternoon apparently took fright, escaped from a butcher’s shop, and ran for its life. The cow jumped over the six-foot fence at the butcher’s shop and fled through the streets of Pocatello in Idaho, before police shot and killed it after nearly an hour of pursuit.

The Associated Press reports that the cow escaped from a butcher’s shop owned by a meat processing company Anderson Custom Pack at Garrett Way and North Main Street, around 12:40 p.m. while workers prepared to slaughter it.

After jumping over the fence, it charged across Garrett Way and then up Hawthorne Road, running right in the middle of the road and nearly causing motor vehicle accidents.

Workers at the butcher’s shop called 911 immediately, and soon several Pocatello police and animal control units were engaged in pursuit of the fleet-footed cow which led them on a chase from Hawthorn westward to Quinn Road, according to the Idaho State Journal.

Unable to stop the rampaging 1,000-pound animal by less violent means, the city soon erupted in gunfire as the officers tried to stop it.

According to Pocatello Police Chief Scott Marchand, an officer shot and wounded the cow in the head in a backyard on Quinn road, but it kept running, ramming two police cars and a Pocatello animal control truck, damaging the truck’s side-view mirror.

Officers chased the cow on foot as well as in vehicles as it ran from Quinn Road through OK Ward Park and finally onto Henderson Lane.

The chase continued through Henderson Lane and adjoining streets, until the cow was shot a second time in the head around 1:30 p.m. in the backyard of a residence at Henderson and Jessie Clark lanes, about three miles from where it escaped, according to the Idaho States Man.

The cow’s escape bid thus ended tragically as it died instantly after it was hit a second time.

Marchand told the Idaho State Journal that officers shot at the cow because it posed a safety risk to motor vehicle and human traffic. Police said they shot the animal before it could cause an accident or hurt someone.

During the chase, it nearly caused motor vehicle accidents on Hawthorne Road. It ran through a children’s playground and residential neighborhoods, making officers fear that it could trample someone.

Residents of Henderson Lane who probably thought that police were engaged in a shootout with criminals came out of their homes after the shooting stopped.

Workers from the meat company loaded the cow’s carcass in a truck and took it back to the butcher’s shop.

[Image: Wikimedia Commons]