A Scottish Highland bull is the discuss of the city within the rural hills of western Connecticut, the place it has been roaming for over a month within the frigid winter climate after escaping from its confines.
Native residents have reported sporadic sightings, together with a number of over the previous week, mentioned Lee Sohl, the animal management officer in Kent. It was just lately seen simply over the city line in New Milford.
“People keep spotting it and they don’t know that people are looking for it,” Sohl mentioned in a telephone interview Thursday. “If somebody calls me about a sighting, then I tell the owner and they’ve been doing their best. They run right out and try to get to it. But it’s hard. It’s hard in this weather, and it’s very scared.”
The proprietor, Jo Ann Joray, mentioned there have been individuals out on the lookout for the bull, however they have not been capable of catch it.
Pictures posted on social media by individuals who have noticed the bull have drawn a spread of feedback, from ones expressing sympathy for its plight, to others saying the bull is lovable to at least one saying it could produce good steaks.
Stray cattle are nothing new within the space. Cows, horses and goats get free every now and then, Sohl mentioned.
“That’s just where we live,” she mentioned.
The bull’s story evoked recollections of Buddy the beefalo, a bison hybrid who roamed the woods in central Connecticut for months in 2020 and 2021 after escaping on the best way to the slaughterhouse. Buddy was finally caught and moved to a Florida animal sanctuary.
Scottish Highland cattle are often called a hardy breed that may reside exterior all yr, in line with the Highland Cattle Society in Scotland. That is good for the Connecticut bull as a result of temperatures have been beneath freezing for a number of days.
