There are plenty of things you expect a sheriff’s deputy to chase, but a herd of cows probably isn’t very high on the list. One Chisago County sergeant recently found himself doing exactly that after several bovine escapees decided to see what life was like beyond the fence.
The Chisago County Sheriff’s Office said the cows made their getaway through a gate and knocked down part of a fence before heading toward a nearby roadway. That created something considerably more serious than a few animals enjoying an unscheduled field trip.
Rather than trying to negotiate with suspects that weren’t particularly interested in listening, the sergeant turned to something they could understand. He positioned his squad car behind the herd, activated the air horn, and began what the department called a very low-speed pursuit.
Eventually, the cows got the message and headed back toward where they belonged. No citations were necessary, nobody went to jail, and the department officially declared the “moooootiny suppressed.”
This Might Be the Slowest Police Pursuit Yet
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The video shows the squad car slowly following behind the wandering cattle while the sergeant periodically uses the air horn to keep them moving. Considering the suspects have four legs apiece, the pursuit itself isn’t exactly what you’d call high speed.
Eventually, the herd starts moving in the right direction and away from the roadway. The department said the cows were successfully rounded up and returned to where they belonged without anyone needing to get considerably more creative.
It might look like an amusing break from more traditional police work, but there was a practical reason for getting them contained quickly. A cow wandering into traffic can create an enormous obstacle for an approaching driver, particularly on a road where motorists aren’t expecting several hundred pounds of livestock in their lane.
Commenters Think the Sheriff Needs a Few Border Collies
Commenters quickly decided the sergeant might have missed his true calling, with one dubbing him “Cowboy Berg” and another saying it clearly wasn’t his “first rodeo.” Someone else suggested the department add a couple of border collies to its K9 unit, which would admittedly make the next cattle call considerably easier.
Naturally, the cow jokes arrived almost immediately as well. One person wondered whether any “mooving violations” had been issued, another said they had “herd about that,” and someone else praised the “excellent use of the air horn” during what they called a very “mooooving” incident.
Others pointed out that loose cattle aren’t always quite so funny, with one commenter recalling a fatal collision involving cows in Tennessee and thanking the deputy for getting these animals away from traffic. For this herd, though, the entire ordeal ended about as well as possible: cows safe, roadway clear, and one squad car temporarily promoted to ranch duty.