ST. LOUIS _ Six cattle escaped from a slaughterhouse in north St. Louis Thursday, interrupting traffic as they trotted through surrounding neighborhoods and led police and others on an hourslong chase.
The cattle slipped away from the Star Packing Co. through an unsecured door, according to Fourth District Capt. Renee Kriesmann. Police were called to the plant in the Hyde Park neighborhood about 1 p.m. local time.
The cattle's bold dash for freedom prompted efforts to save them from the slaughterhouse.
One of the cattle was captured at 14th and Destrehan Street; two others at Little Sisters of the Poor in a fenced-in area; and three were in another area near 20th Street and Bremen Avenue.
SWAT officers responded with rifles as a precaution, Kriesmann said. Animal control officers and the Humane Society of Missouri were on hand to help, police said.
The cattle attracted groups of onlookers in each of the areas.
One of the animals managed a second escape after being penned at the Little Sisters of the Poor residence about 3:45 p.m. It broke through a fence there and led pursuers on a chase of more than a mile. That chase finally ended near Sensient Colors LLC, where the last of the escapees was captured about 6 p.m.
"It's just so incredibly sad. They're just running for their life," said the director, Susie Coston.
She said she and the leader of New Jersey-based animal rescue organization Skylands would to travel to St. Louis to get the cattle.
"Both of us are willing to come right now," Coston said, hours after the cattle took to the streets. She said each shelter would take in three cattle.
At 175 acres, the Farm Sanctuary has rescued hundreds of cattle and thousands of animals in its more than 30 years in operation, Coston said. The farm currently has 45 rescued cattle.
Some cattle are adopted out while others live on the farm well into their adult years. One of the oldest dairy cows on the farm lived to be 28, Coston said. Comedian Jon Stewart and his wife rescued a bull named Frank that escaped from a Queens slaughterhouse last year and turned it over to the sanctuary.
Slaughterhouse owner Omar Hamdan said the farm leaders can have the cattle, all of which he said were heifers, for a price.
"If anyone wants to buy them that's fine," Hamdan said Thursday.
The cost of each animal is around $1,800 depending on the weight. Hamdan said they pick up cattle from a location in Greenville, Ill., for the kosher slaughterhouse, which was founded in the early 1950s. Thursday's escape attempt was a first for the plant, Hamdan said.
Asked about Hamdan's offer to sell the crafty cattle, Coston said the farm doesn't pay for any animals.
If they did, she said, "we would be perpetuating the system we're saying is not a good system."
But even if Coston's group won't pay for the cattle, perhaps others will. Adam Brewer, of Chesterfield, set up a GoFundMe account Thursday night in hopes of buying the animals' freedom.
Brewer said he saw the story about the loose cattle on social media and he wanted to help get the cattle to an animal sanctuary.
A self-proclaimed vegetarian of 10 years, Brewer said he has donated to local animal rescue efforts before, but felt compelled to begin efforts himself this time.
"I'm all in," he said by phone.
