CEDAR CITY, Utah -- Police are searching for the owner of a bull that got loose in Cedar City Monday morning. The bull ran amuck through a neighborhood near Southern Utah University and left two people with minor injuries.
At approximately 7 a.m., police got the call about a bull in a residential neighborhood. When officers arrived, it led them on a chase.
“Officers were busy clearing the streets, trying to get people out of the way,” said Cedar City Police Sgt. Jimmy Roden.
Two women suffered minor injuries as the bull ran from residential neighborhoods to downtown, then to another neighborhood by SUU.
By this time, Roden said, the streets began to fill with students on their way to classes.
Police employed cattlemen to try and corral the animal, but it kept evading police. At one point, police tried ramming the animal with their patrol cars. It slowed the bull down, but it kept going.
Eventually they felt they had no choice but to shoot the bull. Below is a photo of the dead bull. Viewer discretion is advised.
“It posed a serious risk to our public,” Roden said. “So the amount of resources we used just trying to end it where we didn’t have to shoot it, but unfortunately that was the end result.”
Officers shot the bull on Stephen Wilson’s front lawn.
Wilson said it’s something he’ll never forget.
“Woke up to gunshots outside my room,” he said. “Ran across the living room here, saw some police cars.”
The 1,800-pound bull was pulled from the lawn by a backhoe. Officers are still investigating how the bull ended up in the urban area of town and who it belongs to.
Roden said based on the situation, the owner could face criminal charges.
