TWO fugitive cows, which were among a herd of 23 escaped cattle, chased a woman down a Stevenston street before going to a church and then getting cornered by police.

The animals had burst through the fence of their field near Hayocks after a dog got loose and chased them on Saturday, June 11.

The cows, a mixture of Galloways and Galloway crosses, belong to Farmer McCutcheon from Kilwinning. He explained to the Herald what happened: “Two of them finished up in the chapel. A lady had taken a dog for a walk and it ran off into the field where the cows are. The dog ran after them and was chasing them round and round the field until 23 of them stampeded through the fence.”

With help from members of the public – and a neighbouring farmer who chased the dog away – 21 of the cows were ushered back into the field. Unfortunately though, two of the animals had other plans. 

Cheryl Frew, a support worker from Stevenston, was on the phone to her mum near McGregor Avenue when she came face-to-face with the pair of fugitives.

She said: “I was walking down one of the streets talking to my mum when I just happened to look up and saw them standing looking at me. I panicked because I didn’t expect to see two cows in the middle of the pavement and so my first instinct was to run. But as soon as they saw me running, they started chasing after me! 

“They were chasing me down the street and I jumped over this bush into someone’s garden to get away from them. The next minute they started going passed the garden and I was hiding behind this bush. My mum was asking me on the phone if I was ok but I couldn’t talk to her because I was scared in case the cows heard me and came after me again! I can laugh about it now but at the time I was really scared.”

While Cheryl was hiding, the rogue runaways wandered down to Glencairn Street.

Cheryl said: “It was then I thought it was really serious because it’s a main road and they could get run over or be a danger to cars. That’s when I phoned the police.”

According to Farmer McCutcehon, the cows that chased Cheryl were acting on instinct and would not have attacked her. However, he did stress that they could still be dangerous animals.

He said: “They’re the softest things but once they get going that’s them. If you run, they’ll follow you. They wouldn’t attack you but 23 cattle stampeding to get away from a dog, well, you’re just in the way. 

“If you’ve ever seen the old Western films when cattle or bison are running away, they charge and they’re very powerful animals. If they’re chased by a dog, they’ll just keep running. It wouldn’t matter what was in the way, they’ll keep going.”

The renegade cows were last spotted in the grounds of St John’s Church before police turned up and  helped with their return.

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “Quite a few people phoned in to report that there were cows on the road at Hayocks Road and Glencairn Street.

“The farmer had been made aware prior to police contacting him and made his way down. Police attended and the cows were contained and returned to the field.”

Cheryl added afterwards: “I’m pleased to hear the cows are back home now – at least it was a good ending!”