Freerange fugitive: loose cow hoofs through city

LACONIA — They say the grass is always greener on the other side. One local bovine — escaping its home, running down Union Avenue and swimming across all of Paugus Bay before taking a tour of Laconia Country Club and South Down Shores — put that saying to the test this Labor Day.

Police were called to the intersection of Union Avenue and Stark Street at 6:39 p.m. Monday for reports of a cow in the road, according to Chief Matt Canfield. They tracked it down to the shoreline near Spinnaker Cove Yacht Club, where it entered Paugus Bay and began to swim.

A few people on jet skis attempted to herd the cow, Canfield said, but unsuccessfully. They did accompany it safely as it glided across all of Paugus Bay — about a mile swim — to the western shore. 

“I didn’t even know cows swam,” Canfield said. “But that’s a long swim.”

Canfield said LPD was unaware of precisely where the cow had escaped from, but officers did reach out to its owner, a Belmont resident.

Upon landing on the grassy waterfront, the cow took a jaunt through the 7th, 8th and 13th holes at the Laconia Country Club. 

A club member reported seeing the cow and took a video, said food service manager Trevor Fuller. While the herd of one moved on to neighboring South Down shores, Fuller said, some members have reported stray hoof prints in the course’s spongy grass.

South Down residents worked to corral the animal into their fenced-in tennis courts and waited for police to arrive.

But this moo-er is, apparently, also a shaker: the livestock-turned-escape-artist had busted through the chainlink fence to roam free again by the time police came, Canfield said. That was the last time it was seen.

The cow has had no other run-ins with authorities since escaping the tennis courts and likely remains on the loose, Canfield said. No injuries are associated with the hoofer’s odyssey.

Efforts to reach the cow’s owner Wednesday were unsuccessful.