Escaped cows take weekend stroll through the streets of Belhaven

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - You may have heard of a cattle run, but what about a cattle walk through the streets of Belhaven. One homeowner couldn’t believe her eyes when surveillance video captured cows sauntering down her street in the moood to check out the Jackson nightlife.

“They came from over here, then they went down that way,” said Alisha Shaw pointing east to west on Manship Street. “It was definitely a shock.”

It was an udderly shocking Saturday morning for the 31-year-old when her security system notified her of some suspicious mooovement outside her Manship Street home. What the camera recorded was no bull.

“I rewound it several times because I was like this has to be dogs. This has to be large dogs. Somebody has Great Danes,” said Shaw. “And then the car across the street for reference, I looked at it, and I was like no they’re the size of the car. That is a cow. That is a cow.”

At 2:30 a.m. on security video “Holy Cow” literally. There were two taking a leisurely stroll down Manship, coming from the direction of Kenwood Place, going toward Jefferson Street. How? Well, Shaw’s family lives 1.2 miles from the State Fairground, roughly 20 minutes by foot or hoof.

“That’s a trek, and at 2:30 in the morning, I’m surprised they didn’t run into any other people or any other thing like that,” added Shaw. “I was expecting to hear more about it, but no they showed up on my camera.”

Imagine Fairgrounds Director Michael Lasseter’s surprise at a 3 a.m. phone call. Fairgrounds police informed him that they rounded up two cows by gate 10 on High Street. The bovine amazingly escaped through one loose gate after the Dixie Challenge at the equine center.

Lasseter couldn’t believe the cows had wandered so far after being located just outside the holding area. New gate hinges have been ordered to prevent another “Great Cattle Escape.”

“I didn’t realize that, you know, being so close to the fairgrounds that we would have cows and other livestock roaming around,” said the two-year Belhaven resident.

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