'According to a University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police report, a black steer escaped from UNL’s Animal Science Complex on East Campus around 7 a.m.

Calls poured in about the animal as it crossed Cornhusker Highway and made its way to 56th and Superior streets.

Don Beermann, head of the Animal Science Department, said the 1,400-pound steer, valued at approximately $1,400, was one of five animals brought to campus from UNL’s feedlot research facility by Mead for use in an introductory-level animal science class.

“The animal would have been here for today’s class, then processed,” Beermann said. “The carcasses from those animals will be evaluated in class next week.”

However, before it had a chance to be slaughtered, the steer was shot and killed.



The animal was being loaded off a livestock trailer when it pushed through an unlocked gate, making its escape, Beermann said.

Lincoln and university police, as well as several students, tried to contain the animal for about two hours before police decided to shoot it after it bucked one student, pinned another against a cruiser and broke a cruiser’s taillight, according to the police report. Police were also concerned the large animal might crash into an oncoming vehicle.

The steer was shot and killed off campus, on 33rd Street between Gladstone and Superior, the report said.

“Any livestock of that size physically could cause injury to a person (if) they couldn’t escape its path of movement,” Beermann said.

Beermann said he was not aware of any damage to campus facilities or equipment as a result of the incident.



While it was the first time Beermann recalled an animal being shot, it was not the first time one had escaped from East Campus.

Last fall, a young heifer walked through a feed bunk at the complex and managed to escape through open gates, Beermann said. However, in that incident, students were able to locate the animal, restrain it and lead it back to the complex with a halter.'