After seven cows escaped their enclosure on a farm in northern Cooper Township last week, they caused some damage as they wandered, according to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department.
Undersheriff James Van Dyken said Tuesday he was aware of all but two of the cattle had been located, but not before a pickup truck crashed into two of them.
“That’s why we put out the word; they’re thousand-pound animals,” Van Dyken said. “They’re feeder cows that have had very limited interaction with humans. They’d flee if you got near them, and we were concerned if people did that, they’d run into the road creating a hazard.”
The farm, which police did not name, contacted Kalamazoo County Animal Services April 3 after the cows compromised the fence containing them. Other media reported the cows had wandered nearby woods and had crashed through other fences.
The crash with the pickup happened April 4 on D Avenue about 1.5 miles from the cows’ farm, after the sheriff’s department cautioned the public to call 911 or Kalamazoo County Central Dispatch at (269) 488-8911 if they spotted the cows.
Van Dyken said many of the recaptured cows had been euthanized, as far as he knew. Other cows had been found 3 to 4 miles away.
“If people still spot any of the remaining cows, they can call 911; they’ll know how to contact the farm owner,” he said.
Contact Ryan Lewis at rmlewis@allegannews.com or (269) 673-5534.
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