Some of the bison that were able to be returned to the Pierson farm. /Earlene Frederick photo
Sheriff David Beth held a press conference at about 3 p.m., Saturday to inform the media about the loose bison situation.
Saturday morning 17 bison were discovered to have escaped their enclosed at a Paris farm through a fence damaged by a fallen tree. Eventually, 7 were able to led back into the pasture and the fence repaired. One was not able to be corralled and had to be shot. The remaining 9 had traveled to just outside of Paddock Lake. When efforts to lead those back to the farm failed, the owner made the decision to shoot them rather than risk having them harm someone.
Here are some selected quotes from Beth’s remarks, followed by video of his statement:
On the bison that were able to corralled:
Divine intervention got those animals to walk back into the pasture.”
On farmer Tom Pierson’s difficult but correct decision to shot the animals that could not be corralled.
One of our biggest fears — and of the owner — is they were going to go into a more subdivisions amd more of an urban area and become more of a risk.”
The owner is in tears. He raised these animals from calves.”
Beth explained that bison don’t herd. Instead they can react to attempts to herd them with splintering, making them potentially even more dangerous close to an urban area. And the nature of bison makes them dangerous, say compared to a dairy cow.
Fences don’t really mean much to buffalo. They’re a rather dangerous animal.”
The bison were owned by Tom Pierson and housed on his property on Highway NN in Paris. Here are quotes from an interview with him, followed by video of his remarks
On his decision to shoot some of the bison:
“It’s been a long day … You’ve got to put it into perspective … The last thing I wanted to see was anybody get hurt. I didn’t want that to happen.”
On the nature of bison and their potential danger to the public:
I know what these animals can do. They can jump six feet flat-footed if they need to.”
They’re totally wild animals. They’re unpetable pets. As long as they have food and water they’re content … They’re curious animals. Once they got out, there’s really no herding them. They’re as wild as can be.”
Pierson said the shot animals will not be able to sold because they were not inspected. He hopes to donate the meat to charities.
Here are some more photos:
Some of the bison that were able to be returned to the Pierson farm. /Earlene Frederick photo
Some of the bison that were able to be returned to the Pierson farm. /Earlene Frederick photo
/Earlene Frederick photo
/Earlene Frederick photo
/Earlene Frederick photo
/Earlene Frederick photo
/Earlene Frederick photo
/Earlene Frederick photo
Good job on getting the story out!
The property is inside the Village of Paddock Lake. The animals were less then 40 feet from several homes located east and south of the property. If anyone doubts the danger these beautiful animals presented, they should read about the many confrontations at Yellowstone. The news chopper only shows the brushy areas.
WHICH CHARITIES, WHICH PROCESSOR??