That’s not a bull: Emergency crews in a Massachusetts town had to conduct spontaneous rescue operations when eight bulls escaped from a rodeo held in the parking lot of a North Attleboro shopping center on Sunday.
A video posted online captured the moment the bulls escaped from the Emerald Square Mall rodeo. The animals stormed through the crowded parking lot, knocked down fences, crashed into a tent and sped toward busy US Highway 1. They eventually escaped into a nearby wooded area where they found freedom for a short time.
The North Attleboro Fire Department issued a warning: “These rodeo bulls were not fooling around.”
“Community members should exercise extreme caution and not approach any bull,” the agency said.
The North Attleboro Fire Chief said firefighters were responding to the rodeo at 999 S. Washington Street with a response team when they saw the eight bulls escape their pen and flee into the woods behind BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse around 1:30 p.m.
No one was injured in the outbreak.
One bull was caught shortly after escaping, fire officials said. North Attleboro fire and police, along with Massachusetts Environmental Police, searched for the remaining seven. Members of the New England Rodeo in Norton and members of the rodeo at the mall also helped with the search.
Many were shocked by what they saw Sunday, pulling out their cellphones as the cops ran down Route 1. But perhaps no one was more shocked than Chris Mooney, an Attleboro resident who saw the cops running down his street and through his yard.
“When I went out and looked out, I immediately thought, ‘Those aren’t horses, those are bulls, oh my God,'” he said. “Two of them were laying there, another was trying to get off the fence, and the others were just sitting there.”
Mooney and his two sons stayed inside and watched from a safe distance.
According to fire officials, six bulls were found trapped behind a fence outside a home on Prescott Street in Attleboro around 4:30 p.m. Search crews were able to safely herd all six into a trailer without further incident.
Neighbors watched as rodeo workers tried to load the bulls into a trailer.
“At first I just felt sorry for the bulls’ lives. I thought there was a reason they escaped,” said Gee Sounthonevat.
Overall, people were happy that the animals were taken away unharmed.
“They had a fence and they drove them into the trailer and that was it,” Sounthonevat said.
While seven of the eight were corralled by late Sunday afternoon, one of them is still on the run, fire officials said. Rescue workers were still combing the streets for the remaining villain.
Anyone who sees the bull still on the loose is asked not to approach him. Instead, call 911.
The Festival Rodeo at Emerald Square Mall – a one-day event – has been canceled, officials said. How the bulls escaped is under investigation.
