VICTORIA – An island ram escaped its farm enclosure Sunday morning, causing traffic delays in the Central Saanich area until it was finally wrangled by local residents.
According to Central Saanich police, the ram caused brief traffic delays near the intersection of Benvenuto Avenue and West Saanich Road when it wandered onto the street at approximately 10:30 a.m.
Mounties say that when officers arrived, roughly five minutes after reports of the ram came in, the animal had moved onto a grassy area off of the street, no longer blocking traffic.
Once on the grass, police say that the ram was "corralled by some really good neighbours and Good Samaritans" who are familiar with dealing with this type of bovid.
According to Central Saanich police, no people or animals were harmed in the 30 to 45 minutes it took to wrangle the ram. Police say that once the animal was secured, the owner arrived and took the ram back to its farm.
This incident is not the first time that a non-native animal has escaped its enclosure on Vancouver Island. In August, an escaped emu was on the loose and blocked traffic in Chemainus.
In that instance, police deployed a Taser to subdue the five-foot, 100-pound bird. Following the electric shock, police said that the animal was uninjured.
