Escaped pregnant cow disrupts early-morning traffic in Upper Austria's Mühlviertel region

From the B38 and the Leonfeldner Straße the animal made its way into the urban area of Freistadt itself, forcing officers to close sections of the road network. Several attempts to corner and capture the cow failed during the operation, which the police described as an unusual deployment for the early shift.

An unusual early-morning deployment

The incident drew multiple police patrols to the area, and traffic in and around Freistadt was brought to a standstill during the busy morning window. The cow's path along two main federal roads meant that commuters heading into and out of the Upper Austrian district encountered delays while officers tried to bring the situation under control.

Police said the animal is pregnant, a detail that complicated the attempted capture because handlers had to avoid stressing the cow or risking injury to it. Officers therefore refrained from more forceful methods and instead called in specialist support.

Veterinary sedative ends the chase

A veterinarian was brought to the scene and administered a sedative to the cow. Once the animal had calmed down, it was loaded onto a trailer at around 6:30 a.m., roughly two hours after the initial alarm. "Nach der Verabreichung eines Beruhigungsmittels konnte das Tier auf einen Anhänger verladen und gegen 6.30 Uhr abtransportiert werden", the Upper Austrian State Police Directorate said in its summary.

The cow was returned to its owner, the 49-year-old farmer from the district of Freistadt from whom it had escaped. Police did not report any injuries to the animal, to members of the public, or to officers involved in the operation.

Traffic returns to normal

Local media, including nachrichten.at, picked up the story and described it as an unusual overnight deployment that briefly tied up police resources in the Mühlviertel. The Böhmerwald Straße and the Leonfeldner Straße are key federal roads in the region, and the closure added to the morning traffic disruption in the area around Freistadt.

No further police measures were reported after the animal was removed, and normal traffic resumed on the affected stretches of road. The police did not announce any investigation into how the cow escaped from its enclosure.