A Pregnant Highland Cow Named Maggie Spent Four Days Loose in Carmel Before Police Lassoed Her

CARMEL, N.Y., Oct. 27, 2026 — Maggie did not mean to become a local celebrity. The pregnant Highland cow simply left her new Putnam County farm and spent the better part of a week testing every road in Carmel.

The 4-year-old, 700-pound Highland belongs to Mariana and Stephen Brophy of Little Cabin's Farm in Carmel and Kent, ABC7 New York reported. The couple brought her from a Massachusetts farm, and she wandered off soon after arriving. Farm staff said she was unfamiliar with the area and not trained to follow a lead.

Sightings piled up along Routes 6, 52 and 301. One driver, Brett Yarris, told ABC7 that Maggie charged toward his car on Route 6. "There goes the front of my car," he recalled thinking.

Carmel and Kent police, the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, State Troopers and DEC officers all joined the search. On Saturday, officers finally got a rope on her and guided her into a trailer, News 12 Hudson Valley reported. In one clip, an officer tried to lasso her through a patrol-car window while she trotted down the road.

By Monday she was back with her year-old calf, with another calf on the way. Stephen Brophy said the real worry while she was loose was traffic. "Other than that," he told ABC7, "she's just gonna stand there and eat grass."