LIVERMORE FALLS – No bull: A young steer led police and others on an overnight chase through backyards and into the woods in two towns before it was corralled early Tuesday morning.

The black steer, about eight months old and weighing 300 pounds, had been bought at auction on Monday and escaped from its buyers.

The pursuit began at about 9:30 p.m. when Livermore Falls police received a call about a “loose cow” near Wiles Funeral Home on Franklin Road in Jay.

Sue Metzger, an animal control officer for the state, was among those who tracked the animal in vehicles and on foot with flashlights.

“We were all over the place,” Metzger said. “He had us on the run all night long.” She was joined by Jay and Livermore Falls police, a local farmer and her husband, Mike, among others.

The steer eluded capture as Metzger spotted it near the Chuck Wagon Restaurant on Main and Depot streets in Livermore Falls. After an exhausting chase through backyards, up and down hills and in and out of woods, the pursuers thought they had the animal cornered behind Addie’s Shoppe on Park Street.

But he escaped again, Metzger said.

“At this point, I was losing steam. He was winning,” she said.

Police took over and followed the steer through the woods to Spring Street. Metzger’s husband was pulling a trailer behind his truck with hopes of getting the animal into it.

They thought they had him on High Street, but he jumped over a stone wall and evaded an attempt to wrestle him to the ground as he bucked and kicked and headed for the woods.

“At that point, we’re thinking he’s got to be getting tired. … He’s been running up and down hills. I personally was ready to die but obviously he wasn’t,” Metzger said.

The search halted briefly before the animal was sighted again at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. Metzger asked local farmer Lee Mitchell if they could put one of his calves in the trailer to try to lure the steer into it.

It worked.

The surrounded steer walked into the trailer and the door was closed behind it.

The steer had fresh tags on it and Metzger was able to track the animal to an auction house. A representative there was able to identify the buyer.

It turned out that Theresa and Andy Chicoine of Moose Hill Road in Livermore Falls had bought the steer Monday at auction and when they tried to unload it at their home, it took off, Metzger said.

The Chicoines were not available for comment Wednesday.