A cow that broke loose from a Groningen slaughterhouse on Monday triggered a major police operation, halted traffic on the A7, and took five bullets to bring down before a vet cut its throat on the spot.
The animal escaped from Kroon Vlees, a meat processing facility on the Gotenburgerweg in the Euvelgunne industrial area.
According to Sikkom, who covered the incident, the transporter who brought the cow to the facility said a gate had not been properly closed.
A motorway standstill
Officers spent over an hour trying to capture the animal as it ran across junctions and through traffic along the Kieler Bocht, a road running parallel to the A7.
When those attempts failed, the force made the call to shoot the cow to prevent an accident. Traffic on the A7 was temporarily halted while a marksman climbed onto a patrol car and opened fire.
It took five shots to finally bring the animal down.
Footage of the incident (which NOS notes can be distressing to watch) shows the cow remaining on its feet and bleeding after the initial rounds before eventually collapsing. A second officer then fired a point-blank shot to the head, after which the carotid artery was cut.
A grim kind of practicality
The vet on the scene told Sikkom it was classified as a noodslachting (emergency slaughter): “If I can get there within a minute, I can cut the throat, and the meat can still be sold,” he said.
Officers confirmed to RTV Noord that multiple capture attempts had failed before the situation turned dangerous alongside the ring road.
Severing the artery, they said, was also done to spare the animal unnecessary suffering.
What do you make of how this was handled? Let us know in the comments.
