Escaped Bull Cow Takes Police for a Ride in Ishpeming, MI at the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame
Channel: UpperPeninsulaBreakingNews Greg Peterson
Date: 2014-08-09

Where's the Beef? - Hanging out at the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame – and that's No Bull: Upper Peninsula Police Corral the Impetuous 1,500 Pound Bull With Big Horns


By Greg Peterson, Upper Peninsula Breaking News

(Ishpeming, Michigan) - An escaped bull cow romped around the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in Ishpeming early this morning – the outside thankfully – before being corralled by police from several agencies plus a vet, and a local pony riding business.

About 11 p.m. Friday night (8-8-14), motorists reported a large bull cow was crossing U.S. 41 in the city of Ishpeming – at the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame.

Ishpeming Police, Ishpeming Fire Department, Michigan State Police, Negaunee Police and the Marquette County Sheriffs Department spent over two hours trying to corral the 1,500 pound bull – with big horns.

A crowd of about 50 people gathered and clapped once the police and firefighters captured the 1,500 pound bull and got it inside the horse trailer – where it thrashed a few times before settling down.

"After about two hours here, we did get ropes around it and got it on its side and got its legs tied," said Chief Willey adding the bull's horns were about “a foot to foot and a half long.”

“It had big sharp horns,” Willey said..

Around 11 o'clock one of my guys (police officers) called me and said they had a bull up on U.S.-41 by the ski hall of fame," said  Ishpeming Police Department Chief Dan Willey. "I asked him – a bull moose – and they said 'no a bull'."

"After about two hours here, we did get ropes around it and got it on its side and got its legs tied," Chief Willey said. "We have no idea where it came from."

“Basically it took us two hours to get the rope around its horns – and its head – and it wouldn't really let us do it,” Chief Willey said.

"We tried to get a rope around it to hopefully get it into a trailer," Willey said about 1:30 this morning (Sat., August 9, 2014).

"After about two hours here, we did get ropes around it and got it on its side and got its legs tied and its head held down and put it into a horse trailer," Chief Willey said.

One plan involved driving the bull back across the highway and – down second street north of the highway - into the fenced off Ishpeming Cemetery – but the bull made the big decisions.

“It had a mind of its own and it was going to go where it wanted to go,” Chief Willey said.

Several police officers could be seen petting the bull on its side while it laid in the grass about to be carried and pushed into the horse trailer.

“It was skittish – the guys were able to touch it a little bit,” Willey said. “But (initially) it really didn't let us get a rope around it – but with the help of the state police and the sheriff's department and Negaunee PD – they basically tackled it and put it to the ground, tied its legs off and held its head down,” Chief Willey said.

“A bunch of our officers jumped on it and got it knocked over on its side,” the chief said of the uninjured bull.

The capture happened along a hilly grassy slope behind the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame, Chief Willey said. "We're going to go and untie it and let it loose in a corral" in Ishpeming.

Iron ore train tracks atop an embankment and two narrow overpasses leading to downtown Ishpeming hampered the bull's attempt to escape further.

Shortly after arriving on scene, police called a veterinarian who called a local business that owned a horse trailer.

"She (the vet) called me to get our horse trailer and I tried to help," said Bill Richards, owner of Pound House Ponies in Ishpeming – a business that provide pony rides on carts, sleighs and out on trails.

"It was standing up and in good shape," said Richards of the bull that he hauled from the scene and  dropped off at the nearby vets home.

The strange call left police officers with smiles on their faces.

"It's kind of odd, I've never seen a farm animal like this before – we've had horses out here, we had a mother moose and her two babies (Oct. 7, 2008) – and that didn't end well," Chief Willey said.

Ishpeming police were criticized when a previous chief gave the order to kill the cow moose – leaving her babies motherless. Then Ishpeming Police Chief Jim Bjorne said he had to make the call because people were chasing the moose and her calves with cameras.

“My goal was not to hurt the animal and not to get  anyone else hurt here,” Willey said.

U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in Ishpeming, MI

http://skihall.com

www.facebook.com/pages/US-Ski-Snowboard-Hall-of-Fame-and-Museum/129988530386190

www.youtube.com/user/USSSHOF

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ski_Hall_of_Fame

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Pound House Ponies - Cart, Sleigh, Trail Rides

www.facebook.com/pages/Pond-House-Ponies/127522580655310

Bill Richards, owner

906-360-0212

wrich1965@aol.com

http://Pondhouseponies.com

www.sleighman.com

8 am - 8 pm