Heifer Herd Blocks Highway, Police Wrangle for 30 Minutes

Heifer Herd Blocks Highway, Police Wrangle for 30 Minutes
Cows walking along a road in China in this file photo. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images)
Daniel Holl
8/22/2019
Updated:
9/4/2019

A herd of cows blocked traffic on a highway in China after the owner left them unattended, only to have police spend at least 30 minutes trying to wrangle the herd, according to Chinese online news outlet KNews.

Neither bovine nor automobile were injured in the incident, though traffic cameras showed traffic congestion as the animals weaved through the vehicles on a busy highway in Wenzhou City of China’s Zhejiang Province on Aug 15.

Police let the owner of the herd, surnamed Chen, off with only a warning, according to the Aug. 21 report.

Real “Tail”-Gating

Chen said he usually lets his herd into the mountains to graze in the morning, according to KNews. However, when he left his herd unattended to go inside for a meal, the cows sneaked away unnoticed.

“When I discovered it, I already couldn’t find where [they] were,” Chen told the police, according to KNews video. He said that someone told him that his herd had wandered down to the highway. “Then in the morning, about 20 cows got on [the road].”

The owner confirmed the his herd somehow came down from the mountains and got onto the road. He discovered that the herd was missing at about 8 a.m. in the morning.

Traffic camera footage show the group of cows, young and old, strolling down the center of a two-lane highway. Reports say that there were 26 cows in total, according to KNews.

As cars came up behind the herd, many slowed to the same pace as the bovine barricade, while some cars attempted to slip past.

The police arrived at the scene and spent at least 30 minutes trying to wrangle the cows off the road by swinging brooms around.

Later, the police were reported to have given Chen “critical education,” which means letting him off with a warning.

Daniel Holl is a Sacramento, California-based reporter, specializing in China-related topics. He moved to China alone and stayed there for almost seven years, learning the language and culture. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
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