Bovine Escapees Cause Stir in Suburb

Four cows bound for the slaughterhouse made a dash for freedom on Friday in a suburb of Toronto, after the truck carrying them overturned on a nearby highway.

The four escaped cows ran wild through a residential neighborhood in Mississagua, Ontario, as police officers and local residents tried to steer them back toward the cattle transportation van.

Police managed to get two cows into the van, while the two others, frightened by police presence, began running around the neighborhood.

"The thing of it is we don't want to spook them," said Dave Woodford of the Ontario Provincial Police.

"Because when they take off, you're not going to catch them and you have to let them calm down a bit, he explained."

Residents of the area said they were initially alarmed by the heavy police presence in their area.

"What made me nervous was the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) cars had blocked us in and one was standing at my neighbors across the street with a shotgun," a local resident told Canadian broadcaster CTV.

"At first I'm thinking maybe there's a criminal or something, you know. That's the first thing you think, you don't think cows," she explained.

After a four hour chase through the neighborhood, officers determined that the two cows were becoming a threat to public safety after it charged a policeman and knocked down an area resident trying to assist police.

"All of a sudden someone moved a bit too quickly, spooked them and they, both of them, went crazy and one of them threw one of the farmers up against one of the fences," Woodford said.

Police then made the choice to shoot down the steer, firing nearly thirty bullets into the animal before it finally went down.

Shortly after, the fourth cow was caught and placed into the van along with the two others.

The three surviving cows were eventually transported to the slaughterhouse.