'Roam free, Meteor!': Escaped yak dies in vehicle collision

LOVINGSTON, Va. (AP) — A vehicle has hit and killed a yak who rose to internet fame by making his great escape in Virginia while on the way to a butcher shop.

The Washington Post reports the owner of the yak, Robert Cissell, said on social media that the animal named Meteor died Friday morning on U.S. 29 in Nelson County.

Meteor had been on the loose since Sept. 10 when he kicked off the back door of a livestock trailer and ran into the mountains.

Nelson County Animal Control officer Kevin Wright says there were no witnesses to Friday's collision. He says a commercial vehicle may have hit the yak and kept going.

The Nelson County Farm Bureau wrote a tribute to Meteor on social media that ended with, "Roam free, Meteor!"

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Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com