"Fugitive cow found after five month search"

From CBS Connecticut:

MILFORD, Conn. (AP) - An 800-pound fugitive cow that eluded authorities for the past five months has been captured by a suburban Connecticut posse.

Nearly 20 people including animal control officers, veterinarians and state agriculture officials were finally able to corral and tranquilize the cow in wooded area of Milford, where it had settled in with a herd of deer. The animal successfully fought off two previous capture attempts after walking away from a farm on the West Haven-Orange town line in July.

Milford animal control director Rick George says it took two tranquilizer darts to subdue the cow called Wilhelmina. It was brought to its new home at a farm in Orange after its owners said they didn’t want it back, although they may have to pay for the cost of the roundup.

Five months is good going, and settling in with a herd of deer is something that one of those fugitive German cows did earlier in the year.

But I do wonder whether there was any point to all this. Yes, a cow can be worth a lot of money but surely not enough to justify a five month hunt involving [up to] twenty people? As the article says, her original owners had written her off as a bad job anyway, oughtn't the authorities try and recoup the cost from the new owners?

Clearly they can't demand more than the cow is worth, unless the new owners may be prepared to pay over the odds for the novelty value. See also the bidding war for the Great White Buffalo.