A cow loose in a Pikesville neighborhood led Baltimore County police on a wooded chase that ended with the animal wandering onto I-695 Wednesday afternoon. Officers managed to corral the runaway using nothing more than a rope and a patrol car, and the whole ordeal ended without a single injury.
According to FOX45, officers responded on October 21 to an unusual report of a cow on the loose in a Pikesville neighborhood. The cow had reportedly run away around 1 p.m. from Hidden Waters Farm in the 3200 block of Old Court Road, as reported by Pikesville Patch. By the time police arrived, the animal had already bolted into a nearby wooded area.
From the Woods to the Highway Shoulder
The chase didn't stay off-road for long. Per FOX45, the cow fled into the woods and then onto I-695, turning a neighborhood call for service into a highway response. Officer D. Royster and Officer L. Bailey teamed up with the cow's owner in order to track it down, according to WBAL NewsRadio.
Once they caught up to the animal, the officers didn't need anything fancy to get it under control. The station's report notes that they used a rope and one of their patrol cars to wrangle the cow safely, working alongside the owner to keep the situation calm until the animal was secured.
Cow Held Until Farmhand Arrives With Trailer
Getting the cow off the shoulder of I-695 was only half the job. The animal stayed in custody until another farmhand arrived on scene with a trailer to transport it away, per the same account from FOX45. Officials confirmed that no injuries were reported from the incident, closing out what could have been a far more dangerous encounter on a busy interstate.
In its own writeup, WBAL News Radio credited a photo from the Baltimore County Police Department documenting the scene. The brief but tense episode wrapped up with the cow back in the hands of its owner's team, headed home from a short, unexpected detour through the suburbs and onto one of the region's busiest highways.
