After charging at a woman, damaging a pickup truck and romping through a Waterloo neighbourhood, a steer was put down by police.

The animal escaped from the Ontario Livestock Exchange late Thursday morning.

According to Waterloo Regional Police, it started traversing residential streets in Waterloo’s north end, eventually ending up on Pinebrook Place – more than two kilometres from the stockyards.

Lisa Pagnacco first saw the steer making its way down her street, as she was getting ready to paint her garage.

“It was just kind of trotting at a leisurely pace,” she said.

That didn’t last long, as other people in the area grabbed their vehicles and attempted to contain the animal.

“The more people that got around it, the stronger it was,” Pagnacco said.

“It just started getting more and more angry, and it started charging people.”

At one point, the steer made its way onto busy Northfield Drive – as did a convoy of vehicles attempting to get it off the road, some of which went through red lights to try and keep the animal contained.

After a few minutes, it retreated to the residential area, where it encountered Kimberly Broadbelt.

“It charged at me and almost hit me,” she said.

The reason it only “almost” hit Broadbelt was Shawn Fairnie’s pickup truck.

Seeing the steer headed for Broadbelt, Fairnie drove his vehicle into its path – resulting in a fair bit of damage, but neither man nor beast appearing worse for wear.

“I know (cattle) are never to be trusted with people,” said Fairnie, who grew up on a cattle farm.

“They’re very dangerous animals. I just didn’t want to see anybody get hurt.”

Witnesses say a tranquilizer dart was fired at the steer, but missed its target.

A police officer with an assault rifle then shot the animal – about 10 times, according to people who heard the shots – after which it was taken away in a truck.