Eight bulls captured after escape from Massachusetts rodeo

The animals fled when event organizers were trying to tie them up at a small rodeo outside a shopping mall. They jumped over a fence surrounding the perimeter of the venue and scattered into neighborhoods.

Eight bulls escaped from a rodeo at the Emerald Square Mall in North Attleboro, Massachusetts, on Sunday. The animals broke through a barrier set up in the parking lot and fled first towards nearby woods, the North Attleboro Fire Department reported.

Seven of the bulls were captured on the same day, but one remained at large until it was captured on Monday.

No injuries were reported during the escape or capture. The rodeo was called off and the circumstances of the incident are being investigated.

How did the bulls escape?

According to authorities, at around 12:30 pm, the bulls managed to escape from their enclosures, run through the parking lot, and jump over a fence surrounding the perimeter of the event. 

After escaping, the bulls went first towards a highway and then into the forest. They then dispersed in different directions.

“As the staff members were tying the bulls, one jumped out and they all jumped out. When one goes loose, they all go loose," Kathelyn Gonzalez, one of the organizers, told the Boston Globe newspaper.

A video posted online captured the moment the bulls escaped, and the crowd can be seen running for safety.

The event took local residents by surprise, and many documented the scene with their phones as the bulls ran through nearby neighborhoods.

"I was at the red light, and I had seen the bulls but figured they were just walking them around, until I realized they were headed right towards my way and no one was with them," Kyle Massey, a local resident, told the Boston Globe.

Where were the bulls found?

Firefighters and North Attleboro police, along with rodeo staff, took part in the search for the bulls.

One of the animals was captured immediately after the escape, according to the fire department.

Another six bulls were found four hours later, trapped in the backyard of Chris Mooney’s house, about five kilometers from the rodeo site.

Mooney told NBC Boston TV channel he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "As soon as I came outside and looked, I said, ‘Oh my God, they’re bulls!’ I thought they were horses," he said.

The North Attleboro Fire Department reported on Facebook Monday night that the last bull had been captured.

The organizers had held rodeos in the past

Rodeo organizer "Rancho El Milagro" has held three to four rodeos annually over the past five years, but "nothing had ever fallen out of the organizer's hands the way it happened this time," Gonzalez explained. 

"We're just glad no one got hurt. It slipped out of our hands, honestly," she said.

Sunday's Rodeo Festival was intended to celebrate the independence of all Central American countries, according to the organizers. 

The participation of bulls in sporting and leisure events has encountered opposition lately. In May the Colombian Congress approved a ban on bullfighting and Spain abolished the national bullfighting prize earlier this month.

Material from AP was used for this article

Edited by Wesley Rahn