Udder surprise: Loose cow startles Anchorage cyclists

The cow was spotted on a popular trail system in the Anchorage area. (Photo by Abbey Collins / Alaska Public Media)

In Anchorage, it’s not unusual to encounter a moose on a trail. And bears, while not always a welcome sight, are a part of living in Alaska, too. But wild Alaska cows? That’s not usually a thing.

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Cyclists were perplexed when a bovine creature turned up on a popular Anchorage bike trail.

Eric Parsons bikes along trails near the Campbell Airstrip regularly. But on a recent ride, he saw something pretty unusual. Parsons saw a big animal out of the corner of his eye — and it startled him.

“As I’m riding by it, I notice that it’s not a moose and it’s not a bear. And I’m like, ‘are my eyes playing tricks on me?’ And definitely, in my mind, I could see that it was a big, black cow,” Parsons said.

Parson’s isn’t talking about a cow moose. Parson’s wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him.

“I was like, ‘Am I seeing things?’ Because I’ve never seen a loose cow, in the winter, night biking in Anchorage,” Parsons said.

But, then Parsons caught word of another sighting.

In a post on the Anchorage Fat Bike Facebook group, another biker wrote, “Almost got run over by a cow last night on moose meadow. As in, cattle, not a bear or a moose.”

It turns out there is, indeed, a missing cow in the Anchorage area.

In a public Facebook post on the fat tire group, an Anchorage resident says they’ve been looking for the cow for “a while.” They said it’s “a very sneaky cow, and doesn’t want to get caught.”

They declined to comment further for this story.

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