Little-discussed pitfall of urban farming: One of your cows could get out, terrorize the neighborhood, and give police the runaround for three days, like a Scottish Highland recently did in the D.C. suburb of Fairfax, Va. 

Reader support makes our work possible. Donate today to keep our site free. All donations DOUBLED!

Fairfax residents, apparently unaccustomed to roaming farm animals, thought the pregnant cow was a rampaging bull and placed several panicked calls to police over the two days that Flossie ran free. To be fair, apparently the cow was pretty hormonal and was acting aggressive, charging at officers and then running away when they tried to detain her. Which might help explain why the cow, who escaped on Thursday, wasn’t captured until Saturday.

Eventually she was tranquilized, collected, and returned to her owners, though not without managing to injure the veterinarian who helped subdue her. (The cow herself is just fine.) It’s a little concerning, actually, that this cow is pregnant. Fairfax police should bone up on their regular cow-hunting exercises, lest the neighborhood be overrun with baby bovine escape artists.