Arizona authorities lasso runaway steer

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WELLTON, Ariz., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Authorities in Arizona said a lasso-wielding sheriff's deputy captured a runaway steer, ending a chase involving multiple public agencies.

The Yuma County Sheriff's Office said authorities learned the steer had escaped when a rancher transporting a load of cattle pulled over on Interstate 8, the Yuma (Ariz.) Sun reported Wednesday.

Deputies and officers from the Wellton police, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Arizona Game and Fish responded to the report and saw the roving steer weaving in and out of traffic.

"Our biggest concern was people traveling down the interstate at 65 mph not knowing this [steer] was there," sheriff's spokesman Maj. Leon Wilmot said. "So getting it off the interstate was a priority."

Wilmot said officers and deputies chased the animal away from the highway and attempted to corral it with their cars. The steer charged one Wellton police car, taking off a side mirror and damaging a door.

The steer was eventually cornered and lassoed by a deputy standing in the bed of a sheriff's office truck.

The animal was returned to the rancher.