An Agassiz dairy farmer had to hose down an intoxicated festival-goer after a man ventured onto his property, released the cows from their enclosures, then dove into a manure pit upon being spotted.
Agassiz RCMP said the man, who has not been named, wandered away from the nearby Electric Love music festival on Friday evening around 6 p.m and found himself on the property of Agassiz residents Georgia and Martin Flukiger, who keep over 150 dairy cows.
Then the man, who police say was very drunk and possibly under the influence of narcotics, decided to set the cows free.
Martin Flukiger told the Agassiz-Harrison Observer that he and his family were outside enjoying the music from the nearby festival when they noticed somebody had let the cows out.
As they began herding the cattle, Flukiger spotted the culprit — a sun-burnt man wearing only shorts, engaged in conversation with one of the recently-released cows.
Then the man ran away, diving into the swimming-pool sized manure pit, much to Flukiger’s concern.
“A manure pit is a very unforgiving place,” Flukiger said. If he had gone into the deep end, he wouldn’t have come back up.”
The man did come back up, however, at which point he appeared to realize what he had just done, and began writhing on the nearby grass, covered in manure.
Once he calmed down, Flukiger hosed him off. When the RCMP arrived to take him into custody, he did not resist.
Agassiz RCMP said the intoxicated man was not injured and all the animals were accounted for in short order.
“No cows were harmed,” said Staff Sgt. Stephen Vrolyk.
It was a busy weekend for Agassiz RCMP, who responded to 14 calls service at the Electric Love festival grounds or nearby, including one call regarding a man who drove his vehicle through a crowd after being asked to leave the festival.
