Fugitive Buffalo

The 500- to 800-pound bison being delivered to the Michigan farm of former political powerhouse Edward R. Vrdolyak jumped its enclosure, swam a river, caused a frightened deer to hit a car and wreaked havoc in the town of St. Joseph — before being shot dead by an assault-rifle wielding police officer.

The calf bison made her break Saturday while being put in a corral. It jumped the fence surrounding Vrdolyak’s farm and swam across the St. Joseph River before stampeding for nearly 40 minutes through residential neighborhoods of St. Joseph, Mich., said Capt. Mike Hollacher of the St. Joseph City Police Department.

Its Obvious that this calf knew what the heck it was doing, and it wasn't acting alone ...

During the rampage, the bison startled a pack of deer, sending them swarming into a street where one was hit by a car, Hollacher said.

“We were trying to control it, but it just kept on going,” he said. “It posed a definite safety hazard to everyone.”

Hollacher said his department’s sergeant on duty gave a shoot-to-kill order if the bison moved to an empty field. When the bison did, an officer took his assault rifle from his car.

And of course, once the Buffalo fulfilled its ultimate Animal Uprising 2012 goal (moving on the humans), it met its end ...

“As he was looking [at the bison], it turned around on him and started chasing him,” Hollacher said. “He shot several times, until finally it went down.”

The officer then approached the animal and shot it again.

“He had to put it out of its misery, basically, by shooting it,” Hollacher said. “We felt we did the right thing. Our primary purpose here is to protect lives.”

Clearly, this was just a minor skirmish in the greater Animal Uprising 2012 to come ... Fortunately for humans, the animals haven't learned to shoot back ... yet ...