Watch CBS News

Goat Snarls Traffic On New Jersey's Pulaski Skyway

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A renegade goat and an auto accident snarled traffic on the Pulaski Skyway in northern New Jersey during the morning rush Tuesday.

The small, chocolate brown female with curved horns eluded five Jersey City police officers for more than 90 minutes by jumping back and forth over a central divider along the Pulaski Skyway, alternately disrupting traffic along both east and west-bound lanes, according to city spokesman Stan Eason.

"The goat kept jumping over the divider and on top of cars," Jersey City Police Capt. Edgar Martinez told 1010 WINS. "It was cornered and captured with a rope and we were able to walk it to the vehicle where it was taken out of the Skyway."

Traffic was snarled from 7:10 a.m. until almost 9 a.m. along the elevated roadway, which traverses the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers between Newark and Jersey City and carries thousands of vehicles daily to the Holland Tunnel and into New York.

Four vehicles, whose drivers were attempting to avoid the zigzagging goat, were involved in a minor accident, police said. There were no injuries.

Officials are still trying to determine where the goat came from. One of the goat's ears is tagged with a U.S. Department of Agriculture tag, indicating the animal likely escaped a truck headed to a slaughterhouse, Eason said. If no company claims the animal, it will be moved to a rural animal welfare facility that can accommodate livestock.

"If it can survive running around the Pulaski Skyway for two hours, and then winds up in a slaughterhouse, it's kind of sad,'' Eason said. "But if someone claims her, she is private property, so there's not much we can do.''

You May Also Be Interested In These Stories:

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.