Police in South Florida engaged in a standoff with an agitated calf, who wandered on to Interstate 75 in Hialeah and charged at oncoming traffic early Thursday.
A motorist called 911 around 3:30 a.m. to report a calf on the loose near 76th Street after the young cow attempted to ram his vehicle and those of other motorists on the roadway. The calf then crossed I-75.
Responding officers found the calf charging at cars traveling northbound on the interstate near NW 138th Street. Officers herded the animal off the road, before corraling the calf after it wore itself out going down an embankment near the 138th Street on-ramp to I-75.
When officials with the South Florida SPCA arrived to help move the calf up the ramp and into a nearby transport vehicle, the young cow became hostile as officers tried to wrangle the animal charging at them.
"She was charging because she's afraid," said Laurie Waggoner from the SPCA. "She's not a pet...they got a rope on her, they're trying to drag her around. So she was terrified. In her mind she was fighting for her life."
Officials said it did not know who owns the calf, who will be kept in Homestead until it is claimed. If an owner doesn't come forward in 30 days, she will either go to a sanctuary or be put up for adoption, Waggoner said.
