
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 28, 1993                   TAG: 9305280191
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                LENGTH: Short

DEATH OF COW CAUGHT ON VIDEO

A bicycle-race spectator videotaped a cow's race from a slaughterhouse into a crowded street and its demise under the wheels of a truck.

The tape, shot May 12, has been shown repeatedly by television stations, and animal rights activists sent a copy to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The cow leaped from a window of a Dinner Bell Meat Products plant and galloped toward a street where the Tour Du Pont, an internationally televised race, was scheduled to pass later in the day.

The video shows race fans watching as police corner the animal and fire at least one shot, hitting the 1,100-pound cow in the nose and sending it running through a chain-link fence.

A slaughterhouse truck chased the cow and pinned it against a bridge before a police officer shot the cow in the head at close range. The truck then accidentally ran over the twitching animal's hind legs.

Police and Dinner Bell officials said the cow had to be shot to death because it posed a threat to pedestrians and cars and could have interfered with the bicycle race.

Animal rights groups favor using tranquilizer guns on runaway livestock, but Dinner Bell owner G.D. Gilliam said tranquilizer guns are ineffective. Police said they had to act quickly.

by CNB