By Charlie McKenna, Heather Morrison
masslive.com
RAYNHAM, Mass. — An “aggressive” 1,300-pound bull charged at police officers in Massachusetts Monday after escaping while being loaded into a truck to be taken to a slaughterhouse.
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The incident with the bull and Raynham Police Department was caught on a 5-second video that was shared with MassLive Monday. It shows a police officer attempting to shoot the escaped bull as it charged the officer and three other people.
The bull originally escaped from Mathieu Farms, Raynham Police Chief David LaPlante said in a statement. Workers at the farm were loading the bull into a truck to be taken to a slaughterhouse when it “became enraged and escaped,” running through multiple fences, including ones that were electrified and jumping over a 6-foot-tall berm to escape.
Around 9 a.m. Monday morning, the large black bull was seen running down Jennings Drive in Raynham.
Farm owners told police the bull was “highly aggressive,” according to LaPlante.
Before police arrived, the bull ran onto Interstate 495, where it caused a multi-vehicle crash, according to police. Three vehicles were involved in the crash, and one driver was taken to a hospital after being injured, the Raynham Fire Department said in the statement.
The bull then ran into the woods of Elm Street East toward Lake Nippenicket, which is near a Raynham Water District building, according to LaPlante.
Officers and farm staff were able to find the bull after swimming in the water for “a short time,” LaPlante said. When the animal saw police, it “quickly and aggressively swam toward the group on shore,” prompting an officer to fire his gun. The gunshots were “ineffective at stopping the animal” and the bull got out of the water and started charging toward the group on shore, according to the statement.
The officer fired several more shots, hitting the bull in the leg and disabling it. After the bull was disabled it “needed to be humanely euthanized,” police said. But the rifle used by the officer was not strong enough to kill the animal, according to the statement.
The owner of the farm the bull escaped from, a gun owner and hunter, used his hunting rifle to kill the bull, according to police.
The owner and staff at the farm told police the bull “would likely need to be put down rather than captured, due to its aggression.”
LaPlante commended his department’s officers for putting themselves in harm’s way.
“Facing a charging 1,300-pound bull is not something you go into your shift thinking is going to happen, but our officers were able to respond and effectively handle the situation and prevent further injury and destruction,” he said in the statement.
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