When you picture a water buffalo, you’d probably picture it in the setting of someplace like India, Borneo, Sumatra, or Indonesia; somewhere where these big, tough, and occasionally aggressive critters are naturally found.
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But as of this writing, a rogue water buffalo is on the loose in the environs of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, and local authorities have not yet been able to bring the beast back to captivity.
A rogue water buffalo that was destined to be slaughtered by its owner near Pleasant Hill escaped its fate on Saturday and has been missing for the fourth day in a row.
The water buffalo, which has now become an unexpected celebrity and given the nickname “PHill” by residents, was about to be shot before jumping on its owner and escaping, a deputy says in body camera footage of officers’ attempts to corral the loose animal.
In the body camera footage obtained by the Des Moines Register, a Pleasant Hill police officer and two Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies wearing mirrored sunglasses are seen talking to a farmer by train tracks near his farm in rural Polk County, just north of the Pleasant Hill city limits.
It’s mildly amazing that the animal has been able to evade recapture this long. A prize beast like this is doubtless worth a fair amount of bull ion, and its owners will be anxious to have it back. It’s udderly inconceivable that the authorities haven’t yet been able to track down a one-ton bovid that stands out like, well, a water buffalo in Iowa.
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The locals who are putting up with having this beast on the loose no doubt have a beef with the people who allowed it to escape.
“Basically, they were trying to kill it and eat it, but it got out of the thing,” the deputy tells the Pleasant Hill officer in the body camera footage. “It jumped on him before he could shoot it. Now he wants to shoot down here and take care of it.”
Another deputy wonders how the farmer would be able to drag the water buffalo back to his property from the train tracks if he were to successfully kill it.
Bulleive it or not, that’s probably the least of the farmer’s worries. He no doubt has a tractor that would haul the animal in question back to the butcher’s shop.
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Granted, moving a one-ton animal, alive or dead, is a considerable uddertaking.
Update: The water buffalo has been found, as an updated story became available during the drafting of this article.
Iowa Farm Sanctuary, a rescue in eastern Iowa, wrote Wednesday on Facebook that the water buffalo had been shot in the chest and is now headed to the Iowa State Large Animal Hospital for treatment. They added that the water buffalo was surrendered by its owner and would be joining their farm after treatment.
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The water buffalo, I would remind the well-intentioned folks at Iowa Farm Sanctuary, belongs to someone, and no doubt represents a substansubull investment; if they don’t get their water buffalo back, we can hope they will be cow-pensated. Then again, it did make its moove to escape. Maybe our water buffalo has earned a retirement.
On that punderful note, I return you to your Wednesday, already in progress.