German police round up horses and cattle that strayed from farms
In the Rastatt district of south-western Germany, police returned two horses and about ten cattle to their owners after the animals wandered off over the weekend. No animals were reported injured.
Police in the Rastatt district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, twice had to deal with straying farm animals over the weekend, according to the Offenburg police headquarters, which covers the area.
Horses in Bad Rotenfels
At about 5:10 a.m. on Friday, 6 November, a witness reported that two horses were roaming loose along a farm track near Untergasse in Bad Rotenfels, a district of Gaggenau. A patrol crew went to the scene and confirmed the report. According to police, the animals were calm and unbothered, and their owners were nowhere to be seen.
A horse farm stood nearby. Its operator said the animals were not hers but offered to help. Together with the officers she led both horses on foot to her farm and put them temporarily in a stable box. Their owner later phoned in and collected the horses unharmed around midday.
Cattle in Iffezheim
On Sunday, 8 November, shortly after 7:00 a.m., about ten cattle in Iffezheim, also in the Rastatt district on the Upper Rhine, set off towards the flat-racing track and took over the street An der Rennbahn. The incident was reported to police, and two patrol crews were sent, in their words, to head off a possibly illegal cattle race.
With patience and some gentle strokes, the officers guided the animals from the road onto a nearby pasture. The owner, a local farmer, had been notified, came to the scene and took back his herd unharmed and looked after it. Why the cattle headed for the racecourse, police say, will probably remain their secret.
