It Was A Good Run — Now Over: Barney The Bull Has Been Captured

WANTAGE, NJ — Well, Barney the bull had a good run.

Back in July, he broke through a fence, escaping slaughter on a Manorville farm. The bull ran through a neighborhood in Mastic for weeks, evading law enforcement on Sunrise Highway and the surrounding area, only to settle back in somewhere deep in the woods nearby.

And, he inspired countless memes doing it.

On Wednesday night, the bull’s days of roaming free came to an end, and a happy one at that. He will be on no one's dinner plate.

The elusive young bull on the lam was taken into custody on a former duck farm in Moriches, and he is now settling into his forever home with his new caretakers at Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in New Jersey.

He’s still a little high-strung, though, says Mike Stura, who transported the bull to his roughly 230-acre sanctuary Wednesday night.

“Well, he's been through a lot in the past 12 hours,” Stura said, adding the capture was “traumatizing” for the wayward bovine.

“He's feisty," Stura said. "He is not some passive little animal. He is big and strong, and pissed off.”

Despite all the efforts to corral him, Buddy didn’t budge from his hiding place. But his rescuers had a constant eye out for him, using thermal cameras as well as good, old-fashioned tracking.

He had barely strayed 1,000 feet away from the farm he escaped from, but Stura kept that on the down-low to discourage the circus-like atmosphere that attracted curiosity seekers at the beginning of the rescue effort.

Recently, a giant stanchion/feeder bunk — which can be used to immobilize large animals when they are receiving shots from the veterinarian — was brought in to entice Barney to eat. Once an animal’s head is inside, a trap can be triggered to capture it. At first, Barney was tentative. He nibbled a little hay on the edge of the feeder but did not place his head fully inside.

He slowly became bolder and began sticking his head inside.

“It's the safest thing that I could possibly think of,” Stura said of the stanchion. “And I'm just glad that he eventually got used to using it to the point where we could catch him.”

Stura and his rescuers became bolder as well.

“I would just watch him,” said Stura, who set up camp to keep watch at the farm, rotating with volunteers. “Every day, he would get a little more bold. And then the past several days, he was sticking his head all the way in, and I could see that if I had set it to lock it would catch him.”

“And so yesterday, I just decided, ‘Today’s the day and let's do it,’” he said, adding that the coming hunting season was a concern, when “people start milling around” the area with guns.

Barney, of course, was not happy when he was finally in custody, so to speak.

“He was throwing my feeder around a little bit, and it weighs over a ton,” Stura said.

Still, Stura could not wait to share the news Thursday morning on Facebook.

"Look who we found cruising around Long Island," a post on the ranch's page said. "He is one handsome kid."

He added: "It’s been a long road."

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• Over $2,400 Raised For Barney, the Mastic Bull
• Mastic Bull Inspires PETA To Place A Billboard Nearby
• As Henri Creeps In Rescuers Worry About Barney

Suffolk Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Chief Roy Gross, whose agency has coordinated the rescue efforts, said that when Stura sent him the photo of Barney, it “absolutely” made his day.

He described the monthslong rescue effort as a great effort by Stura, whom he called a “wonderful caring man.”

“I really am very, very happy that this thing ended well,” he said, “Just think that this bull was next in line to be slaughtered.

“The outpouring of people from not just this area, but from all over the country … that was so caring about this animal and praying for it. It was just a wonderful, wonderful ending.”

Gross described Stura as the main player who devoted the most hours to the rescue effort.

Other groups that helped in the rescue effort included The Broken Antler, Jaeger’s Run, Long Island Orchestrating for Nature, and Strong Island Animal Rescue.

The groups did whatever they could, from putting up posters to donating their time and raising money.

Suffolk police also did a great deal of work, initially using its on-the-ground manpower and aviation units, as well as placingdigital signs on Sunrise Highway. Inspector Matthew McCormick at the 7th Precinct in Shirley is also “ecstatic” the rescue was completed so safely, Gross said.

“It was just a great ending to this,” he said.

John DiLeonardi of Long Island Orchestrating for Nature, one of the rescue groups that has been advocating for Barney, said he was thrilled with the news.

"He will be taken to a farm where he will be loved and not eaten," he said.

Stura says that Barney will settle in just fine at the ranch, where he's given safe harbor to other bovines.

“Happens every time,” he said.

There is one cow, “Red,” who used to be mean but now is only still “a little skittish,” he said.

“She's not mean at all, but she's scared and she'll run away from you,” he said.

There are also two mothers and their babies who run loose together and are very high-strung and will not let anyone rub them down for a long period, but “it's not over yet,” Stura says.

“They're not here to be pets,” he said, adding that they are at the sanctuary to have a good life.

“Whether they like me or not is inconsequential,” Stura said. “Honestly, I mean, do I want them to like me? Yes, but they don't have to, it's not a prerequisite.”