Suffolk County

Bull on the Run Briefly Closes Highway on Long Island

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A bull is on the loose on Long Island. Greg Cergol reports on the effort to reign him in.

A bull was still on the run on Long Island late Tuesday, after authorities had to temporarily close Sunrise Highway in the morning as they tracked the animal.

The bull was first reported to be on the run just after 10 a.m. in Shirley. Suffolk County police confirmed Sunrise Highway was temporarily closed in both directions near exit 58, but had since reopened.

The roughly 1,500-pound black bull was last seen in Mastic, where it lived on a farm. The bovine was set to be slaughtered as part of the Muslim holiday Eid ul Adha, but escaped before he could be shot.

Multiple residents took to social media to report receiving a text message warning from the county police, urging them to stay indoors.

One widely circulated video posted to Facebook shows the animal charging through a woman's front yard as a swarm of cops give chase.

"I actually slapped myself in the head and said this can't be true, I don't believe this," said Michael Gaisser, who saw the animal and shot video of it running.

Another witness, Debbie Donley, came face-to-face with the bull near her front yard.

"He stopped right there, looked at me, I looked at him, and I was gonna run into my house but he ran next door," she said.

Suffolk County police spent the day tracking the bull, as did several animal rescue groups who were out looking for the bovine.

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