Police in Gatineau, Que., are on the defensive about their policies for handling wayward animals after officers shot and killed two cows that escaped on a rural road.

The cows were on their way to a slaughterhouse on Thursday when they escaped from a truck.

Police say they had no choice but to shoot them.

"The cops, at one point they have to decide, is it threatening for the population? Is it too dangerous?" said Pierre Lanthier, a spokesperson with Gatineau police. "So they did realize, and they did decide at one point that they had no choice to shoot the animal and kill the animal."

In a video of the incident that has been uploaded to YouTube, six shots can be heard as one of the cows trots past police. Four more shots ring out later as the same cow stumbles along a road.

The video had been viewed nearly 3,000 times by 8 p.m. Friday evening and had generated close to 150 "dislikes."

Lucille Cloutier, who was vacationing from North Bay, Ont., when she witnessed the shooting, described it as "the most shocking thing" she has seen.

Cloutier said she is accustomed to police in her community carrying tranquilizers.

"This would've been the most appropriate thing for them to do," she said.

A similar incident occurred in Ottawa last year when police shot several moose after they roamed into the city.

As in Gatineau, Ottawa police don't carry tranquilizer guns.

"The control of animals is not ours," said Ottawa Police Const. Marc Soucy. "We are still in discussion with our partners… to see who should have that. It's all being looked at."

Gatineau police say they are investigating Thursday's shooting but they have no plans to furnish their officers with tranquilizer guns.

Esther Klein, director of the Animal Defence League of Canada, said police need to be better prepared to deal with situations involving animals.

"One way or another, there has to be responsibility taken for these situations," Klein said. "If it's going to end up being the police, then police need the training and the tranquilizer guns and everything that is required to deal with this situation."

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Ellen Mauro