Escaped Cows Stampede Through California Town

Forty cows made a break for freedom and stampeded through a California neighborhood after a slaughterhouse gate was left open. Video shows the cows running through streets in Pico Rivera, around 11 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Police say they shot and killed one of the animals after it charged at a family, the Los Angeles Times reports. Four people suffered minor injuries. Many of the cows were recaptured within hours of the Tuesday evening escape after they gathered in a cul-de-sac, where some of them were seen grazing on a front lawn. Authorities managed to get many of the animals onto horse trailers, but the last ones weren't recaptured until Wednesday.

The surviving cows were returned to the Manning Beef Company facility, which says it is investigating the incident. Residents say they hope the company will pay for damage caused by the cows, including trampled fences. Area ranchers who heard about the escape joined efforts to recapture the cows, with varying degrees of success. "I tried holding it down a bit, and it was too heavy, so it dragged me a couple hundred feet,” rancher John Pitones tells CBS Los Angeles. "Once they start running, they get scared, they get anxious and they just don’t want to stop running." (More cows stories.)