Several steers were spotted running loose in the mainlanes of the North Freeway in the Spring area on Monday. RodeoHouston officials said they were coming from NRG.
HOUSTON — Several roping steers got loose Monday afternoon in north Harris County, causing a big traffic backup.
One of the steers was seen on Houston TranStar cameras dodging people and vehicles that were trying to corral it. Air 11 then got over the scene and several other steers were seen roaming the area.
They evaded several vehicles in the main lanes of I-45 at Spring Stuebner Road. One of them was seen jumping the median to get to the other side of the freeway. The steer eventually made its way off the freeway and out of sight for the cameras.
According to RodeoHouston officials, a trailer was transporting 31 roping steers to Polk County when it crashed, a gate unlatched and six of the steers got loose.
The crash was reported just before noon. As of 12:45 p.m., at least one of the steers had been cornered and people were working to get it into a trailer. By about 4 p.m., all of them had been accounted for.
Authorities said that after using several tools to catch the last steer, they ended up having to use a tranquilizer to corral it.
The incident caused a significant traffic backup in the area. Both sides of the freeway were backed up for several miles. Around 1 p.m., traffic started moving again.
According to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, who posted to social media around 1:15 p.m., three of the steers had been caught and two northbound lanes of I-45 were reopened.
Gonzalez said the HCSO Livestock Unit responded to the scene to help catch the animals.
Earlier this month, a cow got loose at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Video showed the cow running away from the rodeo gates as people chased after it.