Out-Of-Control Bull Killed After Running Streets Of Rohnert Park

ROHNERT PARK (KPIX 5) -- A bull on the loose stampeded out of control in Rohnert Park on Monday, knocking people over and stopping traffic before it was killed by authorities.

"He saw Miguel and I coming and he put his head down and then came right at us," Neil Nicholson of the Rincon Valley Fire Protection District told KPIX 5.

For more than an hour Monday afternoon, some North Bay firefighters turned cowboy to try and corral a raging bull.

"We obviously got too close. He charged us, so we decided to stay back," said Neil Nicholson of the Rincon Valley Fire Department.

According to the bull's owner, the animal escaped around 3 a.m. Monday from a ranch near Golf Course Drive. The farm animal was seen wandering around all day and even ended up blocking rush-hour traffic on Highway 101 Monday afternoon. No injuries were reported.

The California Highway Patrol stopped traffic in the area until the bull exited the highway at Todd Road.

"He was just kind of a like a jogger just running down the side of the road. Not in the road, but just kind of moseying his polite way down the road," Kenton Shaw of Berry's Market Deli told KPIX 5.

Some construction workers got involved in corralling the bull, then some Rincon Valley firefighters. Soon the chase was on, and they managed to steer the bull into a field behind the firehouse.

"We got him back in that area there, we got him away from all the people that were around. He also made another charge at the owners and subsequently knocked one of them down," Nicholson said.

A video shot by a firefighter showed one of the ranchers whirling a lasso. They eventually got the rope around the bull, but he would never calm down.

Around 6 p.m., he charged again at a ranch hand, this time knocking him down. An animal control officer shot the bull three times, killing the animal.

In the state that he was in, he was obviously in an agitated state. So if he did get out he was going to probably hurt someone

Authorities received permission from the owner to shoot. The bull was loaded onto a truck and taken back to the ranch.