BELWOOD — Cowboys on horseback traveled through the community Thursday, chasing and capturing a herd of loose cows that officials say has made nearby vehicle travel dangerous at times in the past month. Escaped livestock like the cows are a common problem in the county, according to Sam Lockridge, county health services coordinator. He said the county’s Animal Control office deals with a couple hundred such calls a year, putting a strain on officers and leading to fines for some owners.
Animal Control contacted a group of Concord-based cowboys this week, Lockridge said, after Belwood officials and residents reported the loose cattle. Mayor Debbie Hoyle said the bovines have escaped their pasture every night for more than a month, walked around the Saint Peters Church and Propst Crossroads area, and caused several vehicle wrecks.
“We felt we had no choice but to secure the area and get rid of the threat of someone getting killed getting hit by a cow,” Lockridge said. “Since no one’s claiming those cows, I guess they’re feral cows.”
‘Glad they’re getting caught’
Lockridge said he met with the cows' alleged owner — who was charged earlier this week with seven counts of allowing livestock to run at large — and the man claimed none of the loose cattle, including two animals that were hit and killed by vehicles, were his.
“We think there are several more on the loose,” he said. “Once the cowboys get the bull they caught loaded, they’ll be working another part of the area where the cows were last seen.”
The cowboys use dogs to track the cattle. When the dogs find a cow, they latch onto its body, often near its ears, to slow down the animal and give the cowboy time to lasso it, Lockridge said.
“We’re glad they’re getting them caught,” said Hoyle, who first contacted The Star about the cows earlier this week. “We’re happy no one else has had a wreck. That was our main concern, that someone would get hurt.”
‘Comp time chasing cows’
Hoyle said loose cows are not a common problem in the Belwood area.
But the recent cow conundrum isn’t the only time loose livestock have caused issues for county authorities, Lockridge said.
“We have probably close to 200 calls a year of livestock running loose in Cleveland County,” he said, adding that loose animals also include horses, pigs, emus and others. “You hear periodically of someone running into a cow or a horse. Often if someone does hit a cow or animal, no one will claim it because of the liability involved.”
The constant calls for livestock services tax the animal control office, Lockridge said. He has nine animal control officers, with all of them spending time on the Belwood cows in the past month, he said.
“It’s taken up a lot of man hours,” he said. “We respond to so many livestock calls, we no longer respond to animals running at large after 5 p.m. We’ll respond from 8 to 5 during daylight hours. My guys were accruing so much comp time chasing cows for two or three hours during the night. We don’t have the workforce to always chase cows up and down the road at night.”
‘Cattlemen in the community to house them’
Lockridge said he hoped the cowboys would take one of the Belwood-area cows they captured as payment for their services. If not, Animal Control plans to house the cows in a local pasture and sell them, with proceeds paying for the cowboy services.
“We have cattlemen in the community to house them until we can do something with them,” he said.
Animal Control maintains a log book of livestock owners in the county to help identify residents whose animals escape, Lockridge said.
“It’s very taxing to respond often. That’s the problem,” he said. “We now have a fee if we respond to a livestock running at large. We’ll charge them a $100 fine, a civil penalty, for allowing that livestock to run at large. Even if we can’t find the owner, we’ll load it up and have a place to keep it. We have to do various postings to find the owner. We’ll sell it at a barn if we need to.”
Livestock owners can help prevent escaped animals by properly maintaining fencing, Lockridge said.
“Most people keep their fences in good shape,” Hoyle said of the Belwood area. “But sometimes animals will get out.”
Reach Matthew Tessnear at 704-669-3331, at mtessnear@shelbystar.com or on Twitter @MatthewTessnear.