After rumbling through two towns and eluding authorities, the runaway steer was finally stopped when a Trenton police officer shot the animal with a shotgun.
September 28, 2021 – By Kevin Shea – Source nj.com
A steer that escaped from a Trenton slaughterhouse Friday morning eluded police and firefighters for several blocks in Trenton and Hamilton before an officer killed it with two shotgun blasts on a residential street, Trenton police said.
The steer escaped from Trenton Halal Packing Co., a slaughterhouse on Roebling Avenue in Trenton at about 9 a.m. It’s the third time an animal has escaped the facility and roamed free since 2010.
Video of part of the incident showed the 2,000-pound steer corralled behind a fence next to a house on Cedar Lane near South Olden Avenue in Hamilton. During an attempt to load the animal into a truck, the steer jumped a fence, ran through the neighborhood and through the parking lot of a gas station.
Trenton police spokesman Lt. Gaetano Ponticiello said the steer was spotted at the post office on Hamilton Avenue in the city, then apparently made its way to Hamilton, where Trenton and Hamilton police tried to catch it. On Cedar Lane, some residents were evacuated while police tried to get the animal under control and to the custody of the slaughterhouse.
When the steer made it to Wesley Avenue in Hamilton, a Trenton officer shot it twice, Ponticiello said. The slaughterhouse then removed the animal.
An employee who answered the phone at Trenton Halal Monday declined comment, and a message left seeking comment has not been returned.
In 2015, a cow escaped from the facility and made it to Interstate 295 in Hamilton, where animal control officers were able to shoot it with a tranquilizer gun. The cow later died while tied to a guardrail near Interstate 195.
The city of Trenton issued Trenton Halal a ticket for creating a public nuisance after that incident.
In January 2010, an albino bull escaped and ran nearly 10 blocks before being cornered and tranquilized.
The city of Trenton has little jurisdiction over Trenton Halal Packing, Trenton officials have said.
The slaughterhouse has been in operation since 1934 and does not comply with city zoning ordinances, but is operating legally because it opened before zoning rules were changed, officials have said.
Government inspectors from the inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration maintain an office at the slaughterhouse and they have to be present to observe operations.
The company’s treatment of animals has come under the scrutiny of federal inspectors before, the latest in 2014 by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
In a January 2014 letter to Trenton Halal, the agency wrote that one of the animals was also unloaded improperly causing it to jump off a truck and slip and fall.
The letter described the findings as “undo pain and suffering” for the animals and “egregious humane handling” violations. Trenton Halal agreed to a six-point action plan and accepted corrective and preventive measures.
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