Lester, a steer who was on the loose in Oakland County for six weeks before being captured last week in a viral video, is doing well.
The Devoted Barn, which took Lester in, posted an update on Sunday saying he is "happy and relaxed."
Now seven weeks ago, Lester escaped while being transported after The Devoted Barn was evicted from a property in Rose Township and the Michigan Humane was taken five cows to Abraham Ranch in Clarkston.
The Devoted Barn said, "The wild has slowly left your eyes and a calmness has come in. You have no idea that you captured the hearts of so many around the world. You have no idea you have been on every news station from California to New York."
On Sunday, May 21, Lester was spotted wandering near I-75 just north of Holly. Police called Ricky Littlejohn, one of just a few professional cow catchers in Michigan.
“They called me and were like, 'Hey, is there any way you can help?'" Littlejohn said. "I was a little nervous about going because it’s super dangerous to be on the highway and whatnot.”
Littlejohn still called his team and brought in horses, dogs and rope out to the area on Sunday. Eventually, the animal ran into the road with Littlejohn chasing behind. His practice and experience paid off, roping the animal before it was hit by a car.
“As he was fighting, I put another rope on it and kind of worked as a team after that,” Resendez said. "It's kind of scary seeing something like that run out on the highway because it’s a 1,200 pound animal running out into people that don’t know what’s going on.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this happen before and it was just really cool to be a part of,” said Austin Collier, who was part of the team Sunday. "It was a dangerous situation and could've been a lot worse.”
The entire chase was caught on dashcam by a Michigan State Police trooper. The video was posted to social media and is now a viral hit. The local cowboy — now local hero — is enjoying the ride, just happy he could help out and no one was seriously hurt.
