Bull that escaped Nova Scotia farm back in its barn, slated for slaughterhouse

AYLESFORD, N.S. — A forbidding, four-legged escapee from a Nova Scotia farm is back in its barn — and destined once again for the slaughterhouse.

“The bull is back, the bull is back,” said Rose Horsnell, daughter of the bull’s owner, 85-year-old Jan Speelman.

RCMP in Kingston said Monday morning that a one-tonne bull was reported missing from his pasture area Sunday evening.

The black and white bull was spotted fleeing into woods off Long Point Road towards Berwick, between Highway 1 and Highway 101.

Horsnell said the farmer’s 26-year-old grandson, J.T. Speelman, tracked the bull and found it travelled through a wooded area before returning to a barn on the property.

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“The grandson tracked him and found he’d come home again,” said Horsnell. “He was just looking for a shelter.”

Horsnell said it’s believed the bull had leaped over a fence that was over a metre-and-a-half high to get away.

But the RCMP suggested the bull was somewhat more mellow upon its return: “It was found by its owner lying down and eating hay,” the force said in a release.

Horsnell said the bull was on its way to the slaughterhouse Monday before it bolted from the farm, and its brief moment of freedom hadn’t altered its destiny.

Cpl. Andrew Joyce said the RCMP alerted the public out of concern the bull could collide with cars on the busy highway.

“It’s a concern if it gets on a roadway and it’s a concern if someone comes across the animal out on a hike,” he said in an interview before the bull returned home.

“It’s an unpredictable animal.”

The Canadian Press