The runaway steer awaiting extradition. In a last-ditch effort, the steer charged at one of its owners before it tripped on a rock and collapsed from exhaustion. The family and emergency responders promptly helped rope the steer up and loaded it in a horse trailer for the long journey home.
The runaway steer awaiting extradition. In a last-ditch effort, the steer charged at one of its owners before it tripped on a rock and collapsed from exhaustion. The family and emergency responders promptly helped rope the steer up and loaded it in a horse trailer for the long journey home.
THE GORGE — Neither the biggest river in the Northwest, nor a busy interstate, nor a crowd of good Samaritans, nor pursuit by Oregon State Police could stop an eluding 4-H steer who opted to start his own rodeo this New Year’s Day.
The “halter broke” bovine belonged to a 17-year-old Washington resident Josie Dickey — until last Friday, when the steer started its adventure with a hop over a four-foot fence and a three-foot barbed-wire fence and a swim into the Columbia River, convincing its human family it drowned. They searched for several days, even using a boat to check an island in the river several times, but found nothing.
On Wednesday, the steer decided to swim over to Oregon, where sturgeon anglers reported it climbing the bank — and heading for the freeway. Some passerby corralled it there near westbound milepost 69, helping prevent traffic crashes, but the steer jumped the median and made tracks down the eastbound side.
Here OSP Trooper Michael Holloran joined in and events proceeded for "a good mile or two," according to his report, before turning off onto the railroad. This meant Union Pacific had to stop all trains in the area while steer, Halloran following, walked down the tracks. Holloran even tried to trap the steer in a railroad tunnel, but it got away.
The parade reached Hood River before distance and pursuit wore the steer down. In a last-ditch effort, the steer charged at one of its owners before it tripped on a rock and collapsed from exhaustion. The family and emergency responders promptly helped rope the steer up, and loaded it in a horse trailer for the long journey home.
Commented