Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Holy cow! No, wait, those are bison...



PIKESVILLE, Md. - A herd of buffalo somehow got loose and wandered around an upscale neighborhood Tuesday, disrupting traffic and alarming homeowners before officers managed to corral them in a tennis court.

More than a dozen police cars and a police helicopter were used to herd the roughly 10 beasts, authorities said.

"Somehow they figured it out; I've got to give a lot of credit to the creativity of our officers," police spokesman Shawn Vinson said.

The officers used lounge chairs beside the tennis court as shields and formed a human chain to corral the wayward buffalo. One buffalo was seen leaping over one of the tennis nets in an effort to evade capture.

The animals came from a farm in Stevenson, nearly three miles away, Vinson said. They were returned to the farm later in the day.

Residents in Pikesville, a Baltimore suburb, first reported that buffalo were meandering along the road about 7 a.m.

Police shut down several major traffic arteries, including a section of the Baltimore Beltway, while they tried to anticipate which way the buffalo would roam.

Officers eventually managed to maneuver the buffalo onto the tennis court about a mile from where they first were spotted.

The American Bison was the mascot of my college alma mater, Oklahoma Baptist University. I wonder if they'll be recruiting these bison for the tennis team next year?

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