Grass is not always greener on other side

It's not often you glance outside the window of your urban home and see a steer strolling past.

But that's what happened to Whakatane's Michael Steens on Monday.

At his Riverside Drive home just after lunch, Mr Steens looked up just in time to see the beast cruising past his house.

"I went to grab my camera but the batteries were flat so had to scramble round for another one," Mr Steens said.

After finding a camera, Mr Steens hopped on his pushbike and went looking for the steer.

"I lost it for a while but then came across it near the corner of Riverside and Kowhai. It watched me watching it for a while before disappearing into somebody's section."

He said a woman in the home where the steer was panicked and thought it may end up inside her house.

"Not long after that, animal control arrived and rounded the steer up."

Whakatane District Council manager community regulation, Graeme Lewer, said the steer escaped from the nearby riverbank.

"A farmer leases the land on the riverbank from the regional council. It appears there are some fencing issues that need to be addressed and the farmer is now aware of this," Mr Lewer said.

"Late last week we were called out to sort out three cows which also got through the fencing."

He said if anyone came across wandering stock, they should ring council straight away.

"Our priority was to get the steer off the road and away from motorists which we did," Mr Lewer said.