WHEN police received a call to reports of a cow wandering the streets of late-night Hitchin at the weekend, they could have been forgiven for thinking it a hoax.

But what sounded like an udder joke turned out to be true, and officers ended up on a cat and cow chase to get the elusive bovine back home.

Residents in and around Westbury Close who thought they were hearing things when the sound of moo-ing drifted through their windows on Saturday night soon realised their ears were not deceiving them, and looked on as efforts were made to moo-ve the cow on.

Special Sergeant Megan Cope, who ended up chasing Nancy the cow around the estate with a colleague, said: “A member of the public was reporting a large cow with big horns on the loose. We arrived and did indeed find a very large cow roaming around the housing estate!

“After about half an hour of running around chasing Nancy, we managed to contain her in the grounds of the now disused Hitchin Hospital and finally managed to make contact with the correct farmer to come and pick her up.”

It turned out Nancy had escaped from the Oughtonhead Nature Reserve, milking her escape by taking a tour of Talbot Street, Oughton Green and Oughtonhead Way on her travels.

But before she could sample what else the town had to offer, staff from Maydencroft Farm were called, and a trailer was brought to the hospital.

“The farmer informed us Nancy is one of three English Longhorn cows and had escaped from a field in Hitchin,” added Sgt Cope.

“Nancy was returned safely to her field to join the other two, who were oblivious to the fact that the gate was even open.”