It was a very slow highway pursuit.

Three RCMP patrol vehicles were used to herd a cow that had wandered on to the Trans-Canada Highway near the 200 St. overpass in Langley Thursday afternoon.

The 300-lb. bovine was spotted around 12:30 yesterday afternoon ambling down the westbound lane on the shoulder of Highway 1.

Then it crossed the highway, somehow managing to avoid oncoming traffic until it reached the safety of the shoulder on the eastbound lane.

Langley and Surrey RCMP patrol cars caught up with it around 200 St. and herded it down the highway down to the exit at 176t St.

During the 45 minutes it took to steer the cow to safety along the shoulder of the highway, traffic in the slow lane was blocked.

“Frankly we’re very lucky neither the cow nor any motorists were injured,” RCMP Sgt. Peter Thiessen said. He said one police car lost a side mirror, when the cow tried “more aggressively to get back onto the highway.”

The cow had been on the loose for several days and was the subject of several calls over the last few days to Langley RCMP.

After it got off the freeway, it disappeared into the bog north of the CN railway yard off 176.

Animal control was contacted, but decided not to follow the animal into the woods due to hazardous terrain.