Fugitive Ahwatukee cow has the law on her side

Atakulov said that after the heifer was released into a corral in June, it struggled with ranch hands, broke down a fence and ran off toward the South Mountain preserve. It has been running ever since, becoming the talk of bemused Ahwatukee Foothills residents and a source of irritation for their Phoenix City Council representative. "It just jumped over the fence," Atakulov said, gesturing toward South Mountain. "I don't know how it is surviving out there." Apparently, the young female cow is surviving pretty well. Since late June, the shiny black bovine with large horns has been spotted munching grass and sipping from fountains in Ahwatukee Foothills, lounging under trees in South Mountain Park and drinking from a stream near a small south Phoenix resort. And, as the heifer slips in and out of Ahwatukee Foothills to nibble lawns, it also is eluding capture by slipping between the lines of state and city authority. Even if she tramples anyone's prized bushes or hits a motor vehicle, the law is on her side. Arizona's Open Range Law, crafted to protect the state's cattle industry, makes it illegal for anyone to simply go out and capture or otherwise harm a cow...more