Where have all the cowboys gone?

Truth be known, the driver was probably going too fast when his load of cattle shifted rounding a curve on I-680 in Omaha, but the animals shouldn't have had to pay the ultimate price.

At least until they made it to the slaughterhouse.

A dozen of the fat cattle died or were shot at the scene of the wreck, and the rest were shot by police after they began walking in all directions.

We can understand their frustration. Any out-of-towner who has tried to negotiate Omaha traffic during rush hour wouldn't envy someone trying to corral a 1,200-pound steer under those conditions.

"They are dangerous to traffic and dangerous to anyone who's outside," Sgt. Teresa Negron of the Omaha police department told the Omaha World-Herald. Killing them "was our only option."

The Omaha police deserve credit that no humans were hurt by the cattle and no more vehicles were wrecked because of the loose critters.

But not all of the cattle were in traffic. Some of them were in an industrial area, and others wandered into residential neighborhoods.

Surely some of the cattle could have been rounded up in makeshift pens until they could be hauled to their original destination.

Are no real cowboys available in Omaha?