Six cattle escaped from a slaughterhouse in north St. Louis Thursday, interrupting traffic as they trotted through surrounding neighborhoods and led police and others on an hours-long chase.
The cattle slipped away from the Star Packing Co.in the 3800 block of Cote Brilliante Avenue through an unsecured door, according to Fourth District Capt. Renee Kriesmann. Police were called to the plant in the Hyde Park neighborhood about 1 p.m.
The cattle’s bold dash for freedom prompted efforts to save them from the slaughterhouse.
One of the cattle was captured at 14th and Destrehan Street; two others at Little Sisters of the Poor in a fenced-in area; and three were in another area near 20th Street and Bremen Avenue.
SWAT officers responded with rifles as a precaution, Kriesmann said. Animal control officers and the Humane Society of Missouri were on hand to help, police said.
The cattle attracted groups of onlookers in each of the areas.
One of the animals managed a second escape after being penned at the Little Sisters of the Poor residence in the 3200 block of North Florissant Avenue about 3:45 p.m. It broke through a fence there and led pursuers on a chase of more than a mile. That chase finally ended near Sensient Colors LLC, in the 2500 block of North Jefferson Avenue, where the last of the escapees was captured about 6 p.m.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
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