How to catch a rogue cow in N.Y. town
| New Hartford, N.Y.
Police hope a farm device used to feed cattle will help corral a cow that has been on the loose for months in a central New York town.
Officers in New Hartford have put feed in a headlock feeder and placed the device along a road outside Utica where the rogue cow has been spotted. Headlock feeders have locking mechanisms that trap a cow's head while it's feeding.
Police tell the Utica Observer-Dispatch the 1,500-pound cow has been on the loose for several months. Efforts to identify its owner have been unsuccessful.
“We’re assuming it’s going to take a few days for the cow hopefully to approach this trap,” Chief Michael Inserra told the Utica Observer-Dispatch. “It’s a very skittish animal.”
A local farmer has agreed to take the cow if it is eventually caught.
Motorists spotted the cow last week as it ran for several miles on a local road before bolting into the woods. Police are concerned that the cow wandering on the road could be a traffic hazard.
In 2013, cowboys were called in to wrangle feral cattle after they scared hikers in the foothills of the California's Santa Ana Mountains. The rogue bovines, especially the bulls, were intimidating hikers and bikers in the Chino Hills State Park.
He was staring at me and he stared me down,” hiker Ed Loritz told NBC Los Angeles. “He had a look in his eye like he wanted a piece of me.”
