Lüdinghausen, Germany - A runaway sheep boarded a parked local bus in the western German town of Lüdinghausen and was driven through a bus wash with a police escort, the police said on Tuesday.

The animal had escaped from its home, made its way to the local bus depot and made itself comfortable between the seats.

According to the transport company RVM, the bus had been standing in the depot's wash hall one evening last week.

While some employees were cleaning buses there, the sheep entered through a door that had been opened for that purpose, police said. Officers were then called to the scene.

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The bus had to go through the wash one more time before the sheep could be handed back to its owner, a police spokesperson said. 

The vehicle had already been in position for a wash and had to make its way through the facility to get outside, the spokesperson explained.

To prevent the sheep from escaping, officers rode along through the brush wash to the outdoor area – where the owner then collected the animal.

According to RVM, several sheep from a nearby herd that had broken loose had run across the depot grounds during the incident a few days ago – "only one of them chose the bus," a spokesperson said.