Farm animals become loose in Glendale: 'They just kept going in circles'

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Police officers in Glendale got a wild start to their work day after spending the morning corralling sheep and goats that got loose and into the streets.

The farm animals escaped a fence area near 83rd Avenue and Camelback Road. The owner says someone cut open the fence which led to more than a dozen sheep and goats in the street.

The incident happened right next to Freddy's Frozen Custard.

"It was just an exciting day, a little spice to getting our restaurant open," Chad Pickett said, manager at the custard restaurant. "Just outside our windows there as we're getting ready, we looked out and there's probably 16 goats and sheep that just start walking by."

Pickett and his coworkers spotted the livestock and quickly went outside to help.

"The three of us went out there to stop traffic from going either way down 83rd. Then the person that actually owns the land over there, that the sheep and goats were on eating the foliage, he had just come by, and he shot across the street, and he was actually trying to herd them back this way as we were stopping traffic from either way," Pickett said.

Glendale Police showed up shortly after to help the owner herd the livestock back inside the fence.

"Watching them, just the police chase around this building here, JT's Pub and the gas station, they just kept going in circles finding new places to hide," he said.

Bystanders on both sides of the street say they saw goats and sheep wandering around nearby businesses.

"They were just herding them, yelling in the direction they need to go," he said. And it worked.

It took about 30 to 45 minutes to get them all back where they need to be and none of them were injured.