Cow In Auburn Escapes From Certain Death Only To Be Shot By Police

Call it a cruel twist of fate. A cow being transported to a slaughterhouse managed to escape from the trailer it was being held in and then engaged in a 45 minute standoff with Auburn Police before being shot and killed. File this under the "you can't make this stuff up" section.

According to the Sun-Journal, police were notified at around 10 a.m. Monday morning that there was a cow weaving in and out of traffic on Minot Avenue in Auburn. Minot Ave. is typically a heavily trafficked street. The cow eventually found its way to Maine Oxy, where police cornered the animal in hopes of coaxing it back into its holding trailer. No such luck.

Police spent some time to set up a safe shooting area due to the flammable gases on-site at Maine Oxy. The owner of the cow, Harvest Hills Farm, gave the OK to police to put the cow down. Some reports suggested that multiple people had been trampled by the cow after escape, but those reports turned out to be false.

The owner also disputed claims that the cow had a mental issue causing the escape. He told the Sun-Journal, "...She was out of her element, totally, and it just made her real crazy. But she was perfectly healthy and I would have perfectly ate her."