Farms take up massive swaths of land in America, with some housing millions of animals and thousands of acres of produce. Despite their size, however, farms are relatively good at keeping a handle on the animals they raise, but stragglers do occasionally bust out. The animals often end up in unexpected places, including busy urban areas like I-75 near Detroit, and just last week, a steer named Lester ended up on the interstate almost 60 miles northwest of the city. The chase ended with a lassoing, and there were no injuries reported.
It took three people on two ATVs and a rider on horseback to tame the steer, but not before it led officials on a chase through fields and woods next to the highway. Lester managed to elude capture long enough to run into traffic but was eventually lassoed by the cowboy on the horse. Even then, when last we see him in the video he’s trying to leap the guardrail into oncoming traffic.
Though Lester’s run ended on the highway, the steer had been on the lam for several weeks. Lester and four other cattle were being relocated after escaping their pens, so this is one steer with an extended criminal record. Michigan state police posted an update after the chase, assuring the public that Lester’s run had come to an end. “Eventually after much tom foolery, the critter was captured and removed from the freeway,” the department wrote on Twitter. “Troopers reopened the freeway and things quickly got back to normal. The bovine was not charged and is back in the pasture with a story to tell all the other livestock.”
It’s pretty common to see deer on the roads in some parts of America, but a steer is another story. Some states have moose to contend with, and their extreme height and weight make them a crushing danger to passing motorists. A farm in northern Maine recently had an incident on its hands when bison escaped its fences for the second time in 2023. Authorities tracked and contained the free bison before euthanizing it, so these stories don’t always end so peacefully for the animals.