A loose cow on Farrington Highway that was shot dead by police did not have to die, its owner insisted Thursday.

But “some yahoo” — apparently a bystander — spooked the animal, said Bud Gibson, owner of Rocker G Livestock Ranch near Makakilo.

Gibson said his ranch hands had cut open the fence to allow the cow to go back into the pasture.

“If you leave them alone, they’ll go back in,” he said by telephone. “Then this guy comes up and messes the whole thing up.”

He said the cars and people created chaos, and the cow ended up panicking. Video shows the animal charging at a person and hitting a car, knocking off the side mirror.

“The cow became agitated, and the officers were forced to take action,” said Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu.

Officers fired three shots, she said.

Video by a passer-by shows the cow stumbling and slowly going down.

“It’s sad that it happened,” Gibson said. “We love our livestock.”

Gibson said the cow was a 5-year-old breeding animal, a “mama cow” who had a calf every year.

Witness Jason Wilson was heading to Nanakuli on Farrington Highway near Ko Olina at 3:30 p.m. when he saw traffic slow and cars veer off to the left and right.

“I could see it was a cow,” he said. “It was moving eastbound on the westbound lanes near the Ko Olina offramp. From the looks of it, it was trying to find his way back up.”

Gibson was in Waimanalo when he got the call Thursday afternoon about a cow of his on Farrington Highway. He sent his ranch hands to take care of the situation.

The cow remained on the side of the road for 11⁄2 hours until police arrived and shut down the road, according to KITV-4. The reporter heard three gunshots.

Cathy Goeggel, president of Animal Rights Hawaii, saw the incident on TV.

“I saw the cow was standing on the side of the road,” she said. “Then I saw the police officer pull out his gun. I think it was cruel. I think they were more interested in getting traffic going than anything else.”

The situation backed up traffic for several hours.

Gibson suspects tree trimmers contracted by the state had let some branches fall across his fence, causing a hole in it and a way out for his cow. He said his ranch hands had just checked and repaired the fence before the tree trimmers came.

As for the cow, Gibson said, “They were able to save the meat. There’ll be some families that have some good meat.”