Armed officers surrounded the cow, called Bessie, as she went on the run near the busy Coast Road in Newcastle, reports UK daily newspaper The Mirror.
Despite closing off the roads so Bessie could not escape, the decision was eventually taken to shoot her dead for public safety.
Up to that point, Bessie had evaded a police helicopter in pursuit for over three hours.
In the end, a police sniper took her down.
In response, thousands of upset and angry local residents in the area have joined a Facebook group called R.I.P Wallsend Cow. (click here)
“So the Coast Road had been closed and they still shot her!?” said Trudi Saddler.
“Pure laziness and lack of patience. Nobody was in danger but the cow.” “There was no need to kill the animal – a tranquilliser would have done the same job,” said Kirsty Murray.
Others defended the police, who deployed a helicopter and, according to eyewitnesses, up to 20 police cars, as well as firearms officers, reported The Mirror.
“The police can’t do right for doing wrong,” said Carole Gregory. “If the cow had caused a pile up and killed one of your family there would of been hell on.”
There are now also plans to honour Bessie with a vigil on Friday (May 22) at 6.30pm.
Those attended are asked to bring a candle and wear a cow onesie.
Dave Turner, who set up the page, said, “It’s not every day you get a cow getting shot in a field nearby. I think we need to mark this occasion with a serious send-off for Bessie.
“It wasn’t doing anything, it was just eating a bit of grass – it probably got sick of the grass it was eating elsewhere, it heard about a nice new patch, went down and started grazing, and the next thing is police turn up and start firing at it.”
Northumbria Police said Bessie was in “a highly distressed state and considered to be a significant risk to members of the public and motorists” before she was shot, noted the report.
See original story here.