Published Fri, May 23, 2008 12:00 AM
Nine riders on horseback, the
Bluffton Police Department, Beaufort County Animal Control, a helicopter
belonging to a local construction company and the state Department of Natural
Resources tried to capture the bison for nearly 10 hours. Authorities tried
tranquilizing the animals before the family and law enforcement decided to
euthanize them.
Bluffton Police Chief David
McAllister said the six were shot at around 4:20 p.m. behind thePublix site.
A spokesman for the Graves family,
David Warren, said farm owner Robert Graves decided to put the bison down when
it became apparent that law enforcement and farm workers wouldn't be able to
rein them in before dark. The worry was the 300- to 400-pound creatures could
create a public safety hazard for several Bluffton neighborhoods.
Calling it a "decision of last
resort," Warren said: "Robert (Graves) was very worried that these
guys would be running around freaked out, without water and would hurt
somebody."
The plan to return the animals home
failed because of the nature of the young bison, which Warren said were being
raised to train the Graves' horses to herd cattle.
The animals were faster than the
horses trying to bring them to heel. To make matters worse, the bison were
unfamiliar with horses. As a result, they were further frightened by the sight
of the horses.
"The thought at the beginning
of the day was to close the (Buckwalter) Parkway and close (U.S.) 278 and herd
them all the way back to the farm," McAllister said. "But the problem
that we learned is, buffalo don't herd like sheep or cattle.
"Essentially, we just weren't
having any luck, and at times, we had even separated the herd."
Hours later, the animals crossed
through the woods and onto the four-lane Buckwalter Parkway. Two were in the
median, while four wandered into the Woodbridge neighborhood.
After unsuccessfully trying to
drive the bison back to the Graves farm, Bluffton police tried tranquilizing
the animals.
"We tried to corral them and
hit them with a dart gun," McAllister said, even though a veterinarian had
warned officers the tactic was unlikely to work because the bison were simply
too worked up to be sedated.
By mid-afternoon, a herd of state,
county and town employees waited on Buckwalter Parkway near the entrance to
Woodbridge while the frightened bison peeked from the woods occasionally.
The upper portion of the parkway
was closed to traffic for most of the afternoon, opening just before 5 p.m.,
but not before disrupting dismissals at the Bluffton public schools complex
down the road.
Dianne Franks of Woodbridge said
she saw four of the animals in her neighborhood grazing peacefully early
Thursday. "The police had built this fence around them, but then all of a
sudden these guys on horseback came in and the buffaloes were off so fast it
was unbelievable," Franks said.
Roughly 30 employees at Berkeley
Place shopping center were stuck while the area was blocked to traffic and
customers. A handful of workers sat on the curb waiting for news about the
animals. At several points during the day, the bison hoofed it through the
cordoned-off parking lot. Shop managers described the day as frustrating, and
at least one business shut down at noon.
McAllister said he and other
officials were considering asking the Graves family to reimburse the various
agencies for time and resources. A Bluffton police spokesman said earlier in
the day the family could also be fined for stifling Buckwalter-area businesses.
Workers walked the length of the
Graves farm fence twice Thursday without finding a break. Warren said the most
likely scenario was that "something spooked them and they could have
jumped the fence."
The animals were buried on the Graves farm. Their meat was not suitable for consumption.
Bison are the largest North American land mammals. They can
live up to 22 years in the wild and 30 in captivity. Males can weigh as much as
2,000 pounds. While "bison" is the technically correct name for the
animal, "buffalo" has become a widely popular synonym through common
usage. Sources: Defenders of Wildlife, The American Buffalo in Transition