A runaway bull went on a rampage through Pleasant Grove and American Fork on Wednesday afternoon before officers shot it as it approached Interstate 15.

The bull escaped its enclosure in Pleasant Grove and headed into American Fork, Pleasant Grove police Capt. Michael Smith said. Police from both cities received calls about the bull.

"It was running down the road, through traffic, through fences," Smith said.

The bull then headed south toward State Street, and officers tried to corral the animal with their cars to keep it from entering the busy roadway.

"The bull," Smith said, "just like any animal, when they get out of their enclosures, they get that freedom under their hooves and they just want to go."

The bull crushed the hood of an American Fork police car and caused a little more than $2,000 in damage to two Pleasant Grove police cars, Smith said. An animal control unit also responded to the incident, and the bull ripped the grill off the animal control truck.

The animal began heading for I-15, and Smith said Utah Highway Patrol reported two accidents occurred as people slowed down to look at the bull. Officers decided to kill the bull before it caused any more property damage and before it could reach the busy freeway. The bull was shot near the Pleasant Grove interchange.

"They tried everything they could to contain it, but it had already gone through several fences and damaged several cars," Smith said.

Tranquilizers can sometimes take time to be effective, as in the case of a moose near Brigham Young University months ago that caused several thousand dollars in damage to parked cars after it was shot with a tranquilizer. Smith said animals get loose now and then, though it has been happening less often as rural areas are taken over by development.

"We've had anything from bulls to emus loose in the city," Smith said. "And emus are nearly as vicious as the bulls."