CLEVELAND, Ohio – Punchy the bull is still looking for his owner following his grand adventure running the streets of Cleveland’s East Side.
In the meantime, the bold bovine is relaxing at the Happy Trails Animal Sanctuary in Ravenna, 35 miles southeast of the city. The Cleveland Police Mounted Unit escorted Punchy to the shelter Tuesday after an overnight stay at the unit’s stables on East 38th Street.
Punchy arrived in a testy mood after an excitable day in urban America, said Chuck Lipscomb, a Mounted Unit officer. Slightly malnourished, the animal was served a hearty dinner of grain and hay. After a good night’s rest, he spent his final morning in Cleveland sunbathing in a turnout to himself.
In an interview with cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, Lipscomb recounted hearing news of a loose cow in the city’s Glenville neighborhood. It was late Monday night, and Lipscomb was roused from bed by fellow officer.
A cow had been spotted in East Cleveland and chased down Superior Avenue by that city’s officers across jurisdictional lines, the officer explained on the phone.
“This is unusual,” Lipscomb thought to himself. In his 17 years with the Traffic Bureau, he had heard of a horse, an alligator and smaller animals running loose in the city. But never a cow.
Eventually, Cleveland police herded the animal into a fenced-in back yard with the homeowner’s cooperation. By fate or chance, one of the responding officers had experience raising farm animals, including sheep, goats, chickens and a peacock, which helped the herding process.
Now, however, officers weren’t sure what to do, and they put Lipscomb on Facetime. The bull, he saw, was agitated, snorting and digging its hoof into the ground as if preparing to charge. The name on his ear tag said Punchy.
To complicate things, an East Cleveland officer, who had remained in pursuit, apparently was not confident the bull could be contained by the fence. So he grabbed some rope, scaled the garage, and attempted to lasso Punchy from above, Lipscomb recounted.
Lipscomb didn’t think this was a good idea. He advised officers over Facetime to calm the animal instead.
“People become cowboys as soon as they see a loose cow,” he later suggested.
For his part, East Cleveland Police Chief Brian Gerhard said he did not believe his officer tried to lasso the bull. “If successful, I’m sure it would have ended badly for the officer,” he reasoned.
Punchy’s stealth route into Northeast Ohio’s metropolis relied on a backdoor strategy, Gerhard added. “The bull used our city to get into Cleveland,” he alleged.
Eventually, Lipscomb arrived to the Glenville home with a trailer, which he backed into the driveway to help in the loading process. Farm animals “like to travel the path of least resistance,” he explained.
Lipscomb set up lights to illuminate the driveway under the night sky. By now, the streets were full of gawkers.
“They were quite surprised to see a cow in their neighborhood,” Lipscomb said.
Officers opened the fence and successfully guided Punchy into the trailer. He began to nibble on hay Lipscomb had provided.
Officer Chuck Lipscomb, who works with the police division's Mounted Unit and Motorcycle Unit, was called to bring a trailer to a Glenville home to aid in Punchy's rescue. (Photo: John Tucker)
How Punchy ended up in a city known more for steel than soil is still a mystery. No missing animal report was ever filed with police. One man called to claim ownership, explaining that the bull escaped his van during a trip to a farm. But after Lipscomb left a message, the man never called back.
An Ohio Department of Agriculture representative said it does not keep a database tracking farm animals. “Any animal roaming at large would fall under local jurisdiction,” she said, suggesting the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a source for Punchy’s information. A spokesman from that agency referred questions back to Ohio’s agricultural department.
Messages left with Happy Trails went unreturned, but Sophia Kartsonis, director of Our Farm Sanctuary in Tipp City, Ohio, says there are myriad reasons farm animals turn up loose. Some are abandoned by an estate after a farmer dies. Others wander from farms lacking technology.
The recent July 4 holiday might have played a roll. Fireworks, Kartsonis said, “scare farm animals to death,” and some bovines can sprint 30 mph.
There are also financial implications to Punchy’s escape. According to Lyda Garcia, an Ohio State University meat science professor, a fully grown bull weighing 1,500 pounds can fetch $1,200 or more at auction.
But after seeing photos of Punchy’s small frame, she backtracked. Punchy, she said, is not a bull, but a young calf. “Looks like dairy influence, mixed with maybe a native breed,” she added.
Garcia estimated Punchy’s weight between 300 and 500 pounds. “You won’t get anything out of him as far as meat cuts,” she said. “He hasn’t had enough time to grow.” She ballparked a market value of $400.
That point, however, might be moot, as Punchy might have punched his ticket following his Cleveland escapades. The mission of farm animal sanctuaries, said Kartsonis, is to shelter rescues for life.
Meanwhile, Lipscomb counts Punchy’s visit to Cleveland among the Top 5 strangest episodes of his career. He enjoys a job where Clevelanders approach him excitedly, relishing the chance to pet his horse. On this occasion, though, he was glad to work with a bull calf.
“People just picture horses and cows together,” he said, explaining why officers roused him from bed for help. “It’s a farm thing.”