Search continues for cows roaming southern Murrysville

The search for a group of black Angus cows roaming southern Murrysville continued Wednesday.

“We’ve been getting one or two calls per day,” said Officer Christer Smith of the Murrysville Police Department. “It’s been ongoing for about the past week.”

On Wednesday, the Westmoreland County Animal Response Team, or CART, was activated after police tried without success to have Pennsylvania Game Commission and Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture officials handle the issue.

“The officer saw a group of three cows,” response team chief coordinator Lori Mozina said. “We did send a CART member out to the scene, but by the time she got there, it was just hoofprints and cow poop.”

Mozina said she believes the total number of cows is between three and nine, but that the group may have split up over the past few days.

A photo posted to Facebook on April 26 was one of the first instances of a resident spotting the cows, traveling at night on School Road South.

On the evening of April 29, a motorist struck a cow on School Road South. Both the driver and cow, apparently, walked away without serious injury, according to Murrysville police.

Mozina said she has spoken to the owner of the property she believes the cows are frequenting, in the area of School Road South and Boxcartown Road in southern Murrysville and northern Penn Township.

“They’re probably hanging out in the woods because it’s hot, and the woods are cooler,” said Mozina, who cautioned residents against searching for them.

“The underbrush is very thick, and it’s very difficult to chase them,” she said. “Right now, if anybody tries to catch them, they’re going to take off. Cows get very skittish and scared, especially when they’ve been out this long.”

Mozina said she was surprised the cows’ owner has not come forward.

“These are very valuable animals, so it’s unusual that someone hasn’t let us know they’re missing,” she said.

“We’ve contacted several of the farms in the area, and no one has claimed responsibility for them,” Smith said.

Mozina said CART’s plan is “to try and lure them out, which could take several days. Preferably what we’ll try to do is set up some temporary fencing.

“We have to keep luring them with food and water to an area, and slowly keep bringing the fence in,” she said.

Anyone who spots a roaming cow is asked to call Murrysville police at 724-327-2100, ext. 3.