Freedom for two bovines darting along Route 11, Mahoning Creek and the Danville Middle School grounds was short-lived.

Police shot the cows after wrangling efforts failed.

Danville Sgt. Bill Wilt said he and the cows' owner made the decision to shoot them after the larger of the animals "dumped" the owner while he, police and others were trying to corral them into gates set up as a portable pen.

"The cow broke the metal gate and for safety reasons we made the decision,"Wilt said. "It isn't one we wanted to make. It was the last resort."

He said the cow may have injured the owner, Andrew Melick of Catawissa, when it knocked him into Mahoning Creek.

The ordeal, which lasted an hour and a half starting at about 10:30 a.m. on a chilly and windy day Tuesday, began when a trailer carrying the two cows somehow popped open. The farm employee driving the truck said he hadn't noticed his trailer gate was open until a woman motioned to him.

The larger cow, weighing about 1,100 pounds, was black with a white face and the smaller one was red and white and about 1,000 pounds. He was headed to the Middleburg Auction with the animals.

The cows darted more than once into traffic along Route 11 and across from the middle school. They spent a lot of time on both sides of the floodwall along Mahoning Creek, which borders Continental Boulevard.