King County Sheriff's deputies arrested two men Sunday after they were found dragging or pulling a very reticent live cow with their car. Or more precisely, a bull.

The two men described the bull as “stubborn” and said he didn’t want to be moved to a new pasture.

The Sheriff's Office received several 911 calls about 4:30 p.m. from citizens reporting that a 1989 Buick Century was “dragging a cow with a rope” in the 4200 block of South Star Lake Road in unincorporated King County near Auburn.

Deputies found the car and with the rope around the cow’s neck and attached to the “B” pillar of the car. The cow was lying in the roadway on his stomach, with all four legs splayed outward. There were open bleeding wounds around the hooves and legs.

The deputies talked with a witness who said the car had been pulling the bull down the roadway with the rope cinched up around its neck in a slipknot. He said the bull was obviously in distress, strongly resisting as it was pulled down the street causing hoof and leg injuries, until it collapsed where deputies found it.

The driver, age 75, and the passenger, age 57, said they were moving the cow to a nearby pasture, and said this is how they always move this cow because “he is stubborn.” The passenger went on to say the cow wasn’t hurt and, “You have to be like that with cows.”

The cow finally stood up, obviously in pain, and was moved carefully off the roadway to a grassy shoulder.

Based on statements from the men and drag marks on the pavement, deputies estimate the cow was pulled along for about a half-mile.

Deputies found bloody streaks on the asphalt where the bull was pulling back on the rope. One of the streaks was about 20 feet long

For safekeeping, the cow was turned over to the Washington State Animal Response Team, which brought a trailer and administered medicine to relieve the animal’s pain.

Both men were booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Animal Cruelty 1st Degree. They made their first appearance Monday afternoon in Superior Court.

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