Police: ‘Buddy the beefalo’ in good health after capture
PLYMOUTH — Buddy the beefalo, who spent eight months evading authorities, was doing “very well,” said Plymouth Police Captain Ed Benecchi Sunday morning after a visit.
Since Buddy was sedated so a veterinarian could do a checkup, Benecchi, who spent months tracking the animal, got his first up close look.
The veterinarian said that he was “in good health” and was “very athletic looking,” officails said.
The famous cow-bison hybrid, first escaped on Aug. 3, 2019, when he was being offloaded from a truck at a Terryville slaughterhouse, officials said. He has spent much of the past eight months roaming the area, occassionaly getting spotted by residents and surveillacne cameras. After months trying to capture the 1,000-pound animal, authorities boasted last Wednesday that they had caught him.
“This was an eightmonth adventure for the entire community — from those who spotted him, to the gentleman that fed him, and to the father, son and son’s friends who captured him,” Benecchi said last week.
Buddy was discovered at Sleepy Hollow Farm by 10-year-old Cody Pleil, grandson of Ron and Martha Rice, the farm owners. Pleil told his grandparents that he saw a strange cow while going to feed the other animals.
“My grandson goes down to the gate he goes, ‘Pop Pop, a strange cow is in with us,’ and I looked and I see the horns and I said, ‘We ain’t got nothing with horns,’” said Rice, who works as a custodian at Eli Terry Middle School in Plymouth.
Rice said wrangling the cow was dangerous.
“I almost got killed. He slammed right into the gate to the trailer that I was holding. It happened so quick, I didn’t even have a chance to move and get out of the way,” said Rice, adding Buddy got loose and escaped.
Benecchi said that Buddy would be leaving for Critter Creek Farm Sanctuary in Florida in the next two days. He added that he’d be taking some vacation time to check on him at the end of the week.
The famous cow-bison hybrid was captured at a Connecticut farm last week after eight months avoiding authorities.