Police chief chases cow down highway
Israel’s top cop, Kobi Shabtai, joins efforts to rope in runaway bovine as it bolts down Route 1
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Israel Police Chief Kobi Shabtai was roped into an unusual road chase Sunday as he lent a hand to round up a fugitive cow running down a busy road.
The bovine bolted along Route 1, the major artery connecting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Footage of the incident shared on social media showed the cow joining commuters in dodging traffic as efforts were made to head it off.
Shabtai was apparently passing by when he stopped to lend a hand, Channel 12 reported.
Video showed the top cop and several security vehicles making an unsuccessful approach to the cow, which managed to slip away, squeezing past a fire truck that was also involved in the road rodeo.
As Shabtai returned to his car, a passerby called to him, “We want to see the capture.”
הבוקר בכביש 1: פרה השתלבה בתנועה, המפכ"ל השתתף בניסיון ללכוד אותה@baruchikra pic.twitter.com/O9jcbbRQdB
— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) August 13, 2023
“Working on it,” replied the bemused Shabtai, who then stood in the open door well of a police cruiser as it sped off in pursuit of the beast.
The network did not say if the cow was eventually roped in.
Route 1 passes through stretches of agricultural land.
A variety of escaped animals have taken to Israel’s highways in recent years.
In 2016 a rhino slipped out of Ramat Gan Safari and strolled down the road before being captured by keepers.
A year earlier three rhinos also escaped the safari. The same year an ostrich ran wild in a Jerusalem neighborhood for several hours before being captured by the Veterinary Service.
