Red Deer RCMP helped get a wandering bull calf off city streets earlier this week.
A call like this is “not very common in Red Deer. That’s for sure,” said Cpl. Mike Evans.
On Monday, police received a report of a bull “running loose” near 19th Street in the south end of the city a bit before 10 a.m., Evans said Thursday.
“From what we understand, the bull calf had gotten out from the area where it was fenced in (on a nearby farm),” he said.
“With the assistance of a local farm family, we were able to coral the animal and transport it back before any accidents or incidents occurred.”
Evans said police wouldn’t have been able to take care of the situation as effectively without the help of that nearby family, which wasn’t connected to the loose livestock.
“We don’t have the type of ability to transport an animal like that by ourselves. We have to enlist the assistance of people who can help us out with that. We definitely want to thank them for their assistance,” he said.
It was important to take care of the situation as quickly as possible, Evans added.
“There were lots of potential hazards that were there, so it was good that we got things cleared up fairly quickly,” he said.
“It broke down the farmer’s fence, so there was definitely potential for there to be damage to the neighbourhood, as it got into a residential neighbourhood. Then we still have kids who are out and about … and there was also vehicle traffic around.”
Kevin Duval, an officer with Alberta Animal Services, said the calf was cornered in an alley off of Lancaster Drive when the agency arrived.
“We arrived and the bull was being cornered by members of the RCMP and the (farmers) who stopped to help.
“We went with some other RCMP members to help and make sure the bull didn’t run past us to exit the alley, because they had blocked off the one side of the alley with a truck and trailer,” said Duval.
The calf “went into a backyard and we made essentially a human wall to prevent him from coming past us. We had the trailer backed up, and as he came out of the backyard, through some coaxing, he turned and walked into the trailer.”
Calls like this are “rare” in Red Deer, said Duval.
“But with a lot of farms being bordered to the city, there is potential for this to take place,” said Duval.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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