PEABODY — Peabody Police recently escorted two dairy cows home after they had taken an unsupervised stroll down Buxton Lane in central Peabody.
These lovely ladies had escaped their farm, Dunajski Dairy, but they didn’t make it far before officers arrived on the scene.
“Once I saw them, I got out of the car and just kind of did what I do with my animals when they don’t listen. I just call and make weird noises until they follow me,” said Peabody Police Officer Will DeRoo, who is now fondly known as Officer DeMoo.
He added, “They definitely snuck out without telling anyone.”
Peabody Police posted a now-viral video of DeRoo making kissing noises as he led the cows back home on the evening of Jan. 24. Since its posting, DeRoo said he has received plenty of positive attention from old friends, family, and strangers alike.
“Everyone’s been seeing me on the news. My mom’s super happy, which makes me happy,” DeRoo said.
He learned two important lessons from that evening.
The first was: “Teamwork makes the dream work. The other guys that I was with helped me a lot, too. They were behind the cows. They just were not in the video. They did a great job as well.”
The second? “Also, don’t pet the cows as much as you want to,” DeRoo said. He noted that, while they were very cute, cows are “pretty unpredictable, and I don’t want to go out injured.”
DeRoo said that responding to this call was “a good time,” and it was also the first time he’s responded to a situation of this nature.
“Obviously, in the cold, you don’t want to be outside for too long, but something like that, you make fun of it, and it makes the shift more fun (for) everyone (to) kinda lighten the moo-d,” he said.
