Last Monday, it seemed that everyone took everything with a pinch of salt - which seemed wise, considering it was April Fools' Day. Even Airdrie RCMP officers were wary when they received a dispatch call that morning.

"[The complaint was] from a couple of citizens that were on Veterans Boulevard and 8 Street: in the Kimmer's gas station parking lot - they had reported that a calf was running loose on the parking lot and was heading towards Veterans," Cpl. Gregory Neufeld with the Airdrie RCMP said. "Being that [it was] April 1, I wasn't sure if our dispatch was just playing a prank on us because we never have cows in the city."

Despite their trepidation that the call may be a prank, officers made their way to the area, and sure enough, they found a four-day-old calf was indeed on the loose. The calf had managed to make its way towards Veterans Boulevard and Main Street.

"He was standing on the side of the road right beside the crosswalk. I told the guys there, [that we] just wanted to make sure we could try and get this calf off of Veterans there was quite a bit of traffic," he explained. "The calf had a lot of energy, and it was weaving in and out of traffic."

After several unsuccessful attempts of trying to get the calf to meander toward a grassy area located by Tim Hortons, the calf had made its way toward the Veterans Boulevard Overpass.

"Luckily for us, there were a couple of farmers that raised calves and they asked if they could help, and I said absolutely. We set up police cars with the lights and sirens on; just to make sure that [the calf] didn't go to the highway because that could have been dangerous for us."

As the young calf approached East Lake Boulevard, with four police cars, and two farmers, as well as several RCMP officers, the calf was finally persuaded to move into the ditch, where it was safely wrangled into a vehicle. Luckily the calf had a microchip implanted in its ear, which the farmers were able to scan.

"We were able to get a hold of the actual farmer that the calf belonged to. He was located a few miles north on Main Street and we were able to get the calf home," Cpl. Neufeld stated.

So, it seems that while on April 1 there was no actual rare La Niña that predicted snowstorms well into July, there was indeed a runaway calf in the heart of the city. 

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