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You never know what you’re going to see on the streets of Philadelphia, but the latest disruption to life on North Broad was udderly unexpected:
A cow cavorting in traffic.
The bouncing bovine was captured on video as it galloped across several lanes of cars near the busy intersection where Erie and Germantown avenues meet Broad Street.
What was it doing there? Not heading to Max’s Steaks, but close.
The cow escaped from a nearby slaughterhouse, according to the Animal Care and Control Team of Philadelphia, which fielded calls about the loose beast.
A person who answered the phone at Al-Baraka Halal Meat at Lycoming and Elser streets, about a third of a mile north of the cow sighting, confirmed it was their animal, and said they’d already retrieved it.
Loose livestock is apparently roaming the streets of Philly more often than you’d think, according to ACCT spokesperson Sarah Barnett.
“Just last week we got in a pig who clearly escaped the slaughterhouse, he still had a tag on from auction,” Barnett said. “Thankfully, he went to sanctuary. We also will sometimes see chickens who are found near the live markets who we believe escaped. It’s quite sad.”
In 2017, a cow being used in a live nativity scene at the Old First Reformed United Church of Christ in Old City got loose, twice. A year earlier, a bull roamed around the city for a while before being shot by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. No baloney.
