Police in Banteay Meanchey province briefly confiscated a dead cow that was killed in a traffic accident that also left two cars destroyed in Sisophon town’s Kampong Svay commune on Sunday.

Chhoeum Sophun, chief of the provincial traffic police, said the dead cow was held at the police station following the accident on Sunday in the hope that the owner would come to claim it and pay compensation to the aggrieved motorists.

“We announced the confiscation to find out who owned the cow, to help solve the problem that the cow caused,” he said.

He said the corpse was detained for two hours at the station, but the owner failed to appear and the owners of the cars decided not to wait any longer and negotiated to pay for the damage themselves.

“They took the dead cow with them,” he said. “I don’t know what they will do with that cow.”

He said the owners “dared not appear” at the station because they would have to pay “millions of riels” in compensation to the two drivers.

The latest incident continues a series of bovine “arrests” made by police officials this year. In September, police in the capital’s Dangkor district captured 12 cows that were roaming “anarchically” and disrupting traffic. The cows were taken to the My Chance Centre, a drug-rehabilitation facility in Sen Sok district.

Ean Sokhim, director of the facility, said the cows were still being held at the centre. “The cow owners have not come to take them, and I have been feeding them up to now,” he said.

Earlier, in March, police in Dangkor detained 15 cows and bulls after a spate of incidents in which lustful bulls had pursued potential mates, disrupting traffic and endangering passersby.