A water buffalo is on the loose in an Iowa town, and police are warning people that it is injured and aggressive.
Police in the Des Moines suburb of Pleasant Hill responded Saturday to a call about an animal in the road. It turned out to be a water buffalo and the owner told police the animal was aggressive.
That proved to be the case when police and animal rescue and control groups began trying to restrain the water buffalo and return it to its owner’s property. Those efforts “led the animal to show its aggression toward Pleasant Hill officers, resulting in a shot being fired from a shotgun, injuring the animal,” police said in a Facebook posts on Monday.
The injured water buffalo escaped. Police used drones and ATVs to find it and brought in people with water buffalo expertise. As of Tuesday morning, the animal was still on the loose in the city of about 11,000 residents.
Madison Pottebaum/AP
“If anyone sees a water buffalo, DO NOT APPROACH IT,” police said on Facebook.
Madison Pottebaum told CBS affiliate KCCI-TV that a police officer came to her backyard last Saturday and asked if she had seen the water buffalo. Pottebaum told the station she thought the police were joking until 30 minutes later when she saw the animal herself.
“I look up and the water buffalo is just staring at me,” Pottebaum told KCCI.
She told the station her dogs started barking and eventually the water buffalo ran away.
Water buffalo can weigh up to 2,650 pounds, according to the website of the National Geographicalthough the Iowa animal appears smaller in pictures. The water buffalo is often domesticated and is the largest member of the Bovini tribe, which includes yak, bison, African buffalo, various species of wild cattle and others, the website said.
Earlier this month, several water buffalo escaped their enclosure in Tennessee and roamed the streets before being herded home, WKRN-TV reported.