Ohio officers get a livestock lesson

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio State University Police Capt. David Rose did everything perfectly.

He approached the Jersey cow near her shoulders, grabbed her halter at just the right place, pulled her head up for better control and tried to walk forward, but the cow refused to budge.

At the urging of one of the students helping with the recent training session, OSU officer Andrew Gillespie pushed the cow’s rump as others made a clicking sound. The cow bolted forward a few steps before abruptly stopping.

After several more minutes of the struggle, the roughly 1,100-pound cow took a few more steps across the arena at the OSU Animal Sciences building. She then screeched to a stop again and jerked her head into the air in a seemingly defiant gesture.

“You can use the techniques that you learn, but at the end of the day, these animals have a mind of their own,” Rose said after the exercise.

The lesson played out repeatedly as OSU students taught enforcement officers and others how to round up frightened livestock that wander into trouble.

Stephanie Neal, a 22-year-old animal-sciences major, dreamed up the session after an incident about a year ago. In April 2010, campus police struggled to corral two cows that had escaped after being dropped off at the Veterinary Medical Center for pedicures.

Before they were captured, the bovines snarled traffic along Woody Hayes Drive, knocked down some of their would-be captors, rammed a few police cruisers and injured an officer.

One of the cows was tranquilized in the band’s practice field; the other was shot four times with .223-caliber rifles after leading police and veterinary workers back to Woody Hayes Drive to a grove of trees within view of Rt. 315. The animal finally dropped after being hit with a dart from a tranquilizer gun.

“I thought, why not bring the best minds together so that next time something goes wrong, we can all work together to come up with the best solution for public safety as well the animals,” Neal said.

Three student groups — the Buckeye Dairy Club, Saddle & Sirloin and the Food Animal Club — joined Neal to lead the training, which attracted 30 safety- and security-staff members from Ohio State and Gahanna.