Bull on the mend

NJ ‘track star’ Ricardo fights ‘road rash’

Ricardo the bull, the famous Texas Longhorn who was filmed running through train tracks in Newark after escaping a slaughterhouse, has been battling an infection since Christmas.

But staff at the Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue are bullish on his recovery.

The rogue bull arrived at the sanctuary in Wantage, NJ, with a half-dollar-sized “road rash” in his right rear leg, the facility said on its Facebook. On Christmas Eve, Ricardo’s wound became inflamed and he was taken to Cornell’s Nemo Farm Animal Hospital.

“The doctors have taken samples of the infection that was in there and sent it to the lab to make sure they are on the right track with the antibiotics,” the sanctuary said at the time.

“He has a cast just to stop him from bending his leg at the hock so the skin heals quickly,” the sanctuary added. “It looks like he will be in the hospital for a while, probably weeks.”

In a Jan. 14 update, it said that “our beautiful boy seems to be getting better thanks to his incredible doctors at Cornell . . . slowly but surely.”

And the latest message says Ricardo is “doing a little better every day” as the infection heals.

“We are over three hours away from the hospital,” the sanctuary posted Tuesday. “We have so much to do here on the sanctuary that we cannot go up there to visit him very often, so I pester the fantastic doctors to send me pics of Ricardo so I can share them with you all.

“Those doctors are extremely busy saving animals, yet they send us pics and call me daily with updates . . . His release date is whenever he is ready to come home and his wound is completely healed,” the sanctuary added.

On Thursday, Mike Stura, the sanctuary’s president and founder, told NBC News that the vets have the infection under control and that all that remains is “a bit of a wound.”

The bull caused a huge commotion when he was spotted walking up and down train tracks near Newark’s Penn Station on Dec. 14 after escaping from a local slaughterhouse. His escapade disrupted train service to and from New York City for about 45 minutes.

The Internet fell in love with Ricardo, who was named after a police officer and even made into a plush toy sold by NJ Transit.