Sheriff Monte Belew knew just what he needed: A cowboy with a lasso.
Rural disasters call for rural measures.
When faced with a 500-pound runaway cow trotting down a state highway, Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew knew he needed a cowboy. And a lasso.
Luckily, his old buddy David Bevill was riding down the Tennessee road in his pickup.
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“I said ‘Come on cowboy and bring your rope. Get on the hood of my car.’
"He said 'You’re crazy!' I said, "Yeah I am. Come on.'"
So Bevill hopped on, and began twirling his lasso. In one fell swoop, he roped the calf, much to the delight of Belew, who had turned on his cell phone’s video camera and was filming away.
"We got 'im! We got 'im!" the sheriff shouts as his friend leaps from the police car with the cow in hand.
And as things go in the new world of social media, the sheriff posted the video on his Facebook page, where in just one day, it racked up nearly three million views.
“We’re a rural county,” Belew told InsideEdition.com Thursday. “This is not an uncommon call for us.”
There were actually two cows on the run in Henry County Tuesday – the one ambling down Highway 79, and another roaming through the middle of town.
Both had been headed to the veterinarian in a trailer being towed by their owner. But the gate fell open, and the two made a run for it.
The calf in town was shot with a tranquilizer gun. “They were afraid it was going to run out in front of a car,” the sheriff explained.
The cow high-tailing it down the highway was just plain stubborn and wouldn’t leave the road, Belew said.
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Even with a rope was around its neck, the calf still didn’t want to stop.
“It was starting to pull David down the highway and he was hollering, so I figured I better put the phone down and go help him,” Belew said.
Nonetheless, they managed to get the calf into a trailer and drove it home. Both animals are now safe and back on their farm.
And Belew has become something of a celebrity, thanks to a silly little video.
“We’ve saved drowning victims. I’ve been shot at on the job before. But roping a calf from the front of my car goes viral,” he said, laughing.
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