MI cowboy wrangles cow on highway
Cowboy and professional cow catcher Ricky Littlejohn recalls roping 1,200-pounds steer on highway on ‘Fox & Friends,’ saying the cow was loose for weeks before he caught it.
A Michigan cowboy is hailing his horse Bucky for coming in "pretty clutch" after he was captured on video wrangling an escaped cow along Interstate-75 outside of Detroit.
Ricky Littlejohn, of North Adams, told "Fox & Friends" Thursday that he was "quite nervous" during the containment effort Sunday and said for his young horse, it was like running on a skating rink.
"I was really impressed. This was a pretty big job for him to go do, but I’ve taken him and did some practicing with him and he really came in pretty clutch," Littlejohn said. "He [ran] right in the middle of him and let me put a rope on him, I couldn’t be more happier."
"It went really viral. I didn’t expect any of it," Littlejohn added, referencing footage of the cow’s capture released by Michigan State Police. "My phone has been non-stop since the day we caught the cow, between Facebook messages, text messages, phone calls. All my friends blowing me up and everybody is telling me I’m the ‘new Yellowstone’ and it’s just funny."
The cow is seen entering a lane of Interstate-75 in Michigan, outside of Detroit. (MSP Second District/LOCAL NEWS X/TMX)
Littlejohn told "Fox & Friends" that "A couple weeks ago they gave me a call and said this cow has been out for a week and they needed some help finding him and finally they spotted him by a gravel pit and along I-75 and they are like we need you like right now."
"We called Michigan State Police and tried to have them get down there for traffic control," he also said. "When we started running across there, we got shoes on all of our horses and stuff and it’s like a skating rink when you are running across there so we had to be really careful we didn’t wipe out ourselves and keep everybody safe while we got the job done."
HERD OF COWS AID NORTH CAROLINA POLICE PURSUIT, LEADING THEM ‘DIRECTLY’ TO SUSPECT
Ricky Littlejohn, right, and his horse Bucky on Thursday, May 25. (Fox News)
Footage showed the cow entering traffic along I-75 while Littlejohn and his horse Bucky were in pursuit. The cowboy could be seen waving a lasso rope as he chased the animal.
"The cow managed to outsmart its adversaries, and entered the northbound lanes of I-75," Michigan State Police said. "The wranglers chased the cow with four-wheelers, horses, and lassos across all lanes of travel. Troopers shut down north and southbound lanes of I-75 for safety."
The video released by police ends after the cow crosses a center median and appears to hop over a guardrail into oncoming traffic.
Michigan State Police said for a moment, the cow managed to "outsmart" those chasing it. (MSP Second District/LOCAL NEWS X/TMX)
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"Eventually after much tom foolery [sic], the critter was captured and removed from the freeway," police said. "Troopers reopened the freeway and things quickly got back to normal. The bovine was not charged and is back in the pasture with a story to tell all the other livestock."
When asked if he has a message for other cows, Littlejohn said, "Stay in your fences and I won’t have to come catch you."
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