What started as a routine shopping trip quickly turned into an animal frenzy in San Antonio when a young calf made a surprise appearance in a Walmart parking lot and later slipped into a drainage tunnel.
By the time the rescue process was over, responders had brought the animal out safely after the search moved from the parking lot to an underground pipe.
Here's what to know
At the Walmart Supercenter in the 1200 block of Southeast Military Drive, shoppers reported seeing an Angus bull calf in the lot, KRCR said. San Antonio Animal Care Services later affectionately nicknamed this escape-artist calf "Moodini."
Police and ACS officers initially steered the calf away from traffic and into a nearby green space. The animal then bolted into a large drainage tunnel, went some distance through the pipe, and stopped for a brief rest.
Responders went into the tunnel, brought the calf back out safely, and placed him in a livestock trailer that had been waiting nearby.
More background
San Antonio's municipal code bars livestock and dogs from roaming freely within city limits. When animals wander onto roads, into shopping areas, or around drainage structures, responders have to act quickly while avoiding startling the animal and unintentionally harming it or causing it to run away.
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That underground dash made the recovery harder. A drainage tunnel can give a frightened animal a place to hide, but it can also turn a simple capture attempt into a more difficult and riskier rescue.
What's being done?
Animal Care Services and police first got the calf out of traffic, then adapted when he kept moving, working from the nearby green space to the tunnel to bring him back out.
Moodini came through the rescue safely, and San Antonio officials are still trying to identify his owner. In a lighthearted remark, ACS joked that "This bull calf apparently had little regard for municipal law."
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