A COW that ran wild in Co Clare on Tuesday morning was pregnant and has since lost her calf.
The carcass of a dead calf could be seen yesterday close to a bush where the cow rested on Wednesday and again yesterday morning.
The cow was placed in a field on Tuesday after she escaped from Ennis mart while being unloaded from a cattle box.
The agitated animal escaped from the mart at about 11am on Tuesday, and raced along the Quin Road towards Ennis town. Members of the public prevented the cow from travelling up Station Road, which would have led her straight into the centre of Ennis.
Instead the cow ran up Clon Road, where she ran down a garda and three members of the public, who sustained minor injuries.
The cow was eventually herded back along the Quin Road to Ennis mart, where, after running wild for several more minutes, she was guided into a field by a group of farmers. The cow later managed to move into another field by forcing her way through a galvanised gate and has remained in the same area since then.
It is believed the pregnant cow became agitated while being removed from a cattle box and that it had been the first time she was transported in a box.
One farmer said: “This cow was used to one person all her life; the farmer who owned her. She went wild because she was handled by people who didn’t know how to handle her. It was all new to her and she got spooked.”
Another mart-goer said: “I was here on Tuesday, and I could see that she was reluctant to come out of the box. She was probably never in a box before in her life and had only ever been between fields. All the excitement of the cattle box could have set her off, but the way they were trying to get her out of the box with sticks and all, they definitely frightened her.”
Following the incident, the welfare officer in Clare of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals called for the animal to be put down humanely as she posed a danger to her owner and members of the public.
“The cow was rogue for whatever reason. She was wild and very dangerous. It could have been a far more serious incident,” said Frankie Coote.
A spokesman for Clare Marts confirmed that the cow has lost her calf, but would not speculate on how or why this occurred. Several farmers said they believed the animal became so distressed that her unborn calf died.
It is now believed the cow’s owner will try to move her back to his farm today.