Escaped Bull Still On The Loose In Mastic

MASTIC, NY — Sonia DeJesus and her fiancé were in his truck and had just returned from getting coffee at 7-Eleven around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when they saw a bull stopped in front of the driveway of a Montgomery Avenue home in Mastic. The animal walked toward them then moved down the street toward the Montauk Highway.

“It was pretty scary,” said DeJesus, who snapped a photo of the bovine. “I have seen wild turkeys and deer, but I have never seen anything like that before. It was crazy.”

The animal, which officials said escaped a farm in Manorville, was still on the loose as of 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Suffolk County Society of Prevention to Cruelty of Animals Chief Roy Gross said the organization’s veterinarian reviewed photos of the loose animal and believes it is a steer, which is a bull that has been castrated.

“I think that with everyone all around the place, I am sure this animal is so frightened,” he added.

Gross went on to say that without the “circus” environment around the location, it would be easier for someone to get a rope around the animal's neck and guide him into a trailer.

“I think what they should do is back off,” he said, adding, “but then again, that’s my opinion.”

DeJesus quickly documented her encounter and posted to a community group on Facebook, and she wasn’t the only one. Posts about the escaped bovine immediately started showing up on social media.

In a post on Facebook, News 12’s Virginia Huie shared Ring security video footage with the reaction of two sisters as the animal runs down their street.

Like DeJesus, Facebook posters also shared photos of their encounters.

DeJesus left shortly after the encounter with the animal, however, her fiancé told her the animal possibly belongs to a neighbor, but she could “not imagine anyone having enough room” for it.

Montgomery Avenue is, however, located on the other side of the headwaters of the Forge River where there are several farms along Barnes Road.

“It’s a little bit of a walk without someone noticing it,” DeJesus said.

Police said they received multiple reports of “a bull running loose in Mastic and Shirley starting at about 8:20 a.m. on Montgomery Avenue.” The roughly 1,500-pound animal escaped from a farm on Barnes Road in Manorville “after it broke through a fence,” police said.

A Code Red alert about the animal was sent out to residents at about 10:19 a.m., advising them that if they lived near Montgomery Avenue and Dean Street in Mastic to stay inside their houses. Police had to shut down eastbound Sunrise Highway at Exit 58 as they tried to wrangle the animal, and it was reopened after about 2o minutes when they were unsuccessful.

“The bull is currently still loose, and all sightings should be reported to 911,” police said in a statement. “We are actively responding to all sightings.“

Police are still advising residents not to approach the animal if they see it. Instead, the police said residents should call 911 immediately.

At about 11:30 a.m., the rescue group, Long Island Orchestrating for Nature, reported members were working with police to secure the animal so that it can be placed in a sanctuary.

John DiLeonardo, an anthrozoologist with LION, said that the animal comes from a local "slaughterhouse" on Barnes Road and that the owner has agreed to surrender him to the organization.

“We have a good group here today,” he said. “We have someone who can [tranquilize] him and we can take him away from here, where he will be loved and not eaten.”

The property where the animal broke free is a former duck farm that has dozens of cattle, sheep, and goats there, according to DiLeonardo.

Property managers for the farm disputed any notion of it being a slaughterhouse, saying space was rented to store the animals that were to be used by families in religious rituals to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eidul Azha, which celebrates a story from the Quran involving the Prophet Abraham.

On the holiday, families offer an animal, and its meat is split — with one-third kept for the family, and the other two-thirds for the needy, said Mohammed Khan, who has been organizing the event for a local mosque.

Khan said the animal got loose when its new owner came to pick it up, and they decided to relinquish it to the rescue group because it was taking too long to get it back.

The SPCA is now investigating whether the animals are being killed humanely and for consumption, Chief Gross said.

Brookhaven Town Councilman Dan Panico, whose district includes the farm, took to Facebook right after receiving the alert from police Tuesday morning, saying that he just drove by Montgomery Avenue as the alert went out.

"I didn’t see the 'loose wild bull,' but [I ] spoke to neighbors on Montgomery who saw the bull run up the road toward Sunrise and then a man come running through the woods asking if they saw a bull," he wrote.

"When asked who owned the bull, according to those I spoke with, the man responded, 'the butcher,' which begs the question, what butcher since there isn’t a butcher near here?"

"Every day when you wake up you never know what the day will bring," he added.

Panico’s office did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.

The loose animal was last seen by residents on Lafayette Avenue in Mastic at about 10:30 a.m., a police spokeswoman said.

LION has been working with police since about 9.am., and so far it has been keeping rescuers busy, as it has moved into the woods, and tried to go back to the farm, before heading off into the woods again, where it remained at about 12:45 p.m.

The group now has plans to deploy a drone to search the area, according to DiLeonardo.

He advised against a circulating Facebook post that advises the animal can be lured with bread. Like Suffolk police, he said residents should not approach the animal if they see it, not shoot it, or try to injure it in any way.

The group is working with Jaeger's Run Animal Rescue Inc., to secure the animal, and Skylands Animal Sanctuary And Rescue are on the way from New Jersey to give the animal a new home, he said.

He advised anyone who might see the animal to remain calm and call LION at 516-592-3722 if they have a sighting.

DeJesus said she hopes that residents “stay safe” and remain inside until police announce they have captured the animal.