By Jesse Leavenworth
The Hartford Courant
PLYMOUTH, Conn. — The celebration and legend of Buddy the Terryville Beefalo has grown to include t-shirt sales, a roadside attraction and even a Twitter feed dedicated to the freedom-loving bull.
While they’re enjoying the fun along with the rest of the state, however, Plymouth police say they are still working to corral the half-ton animal before it causes a traffic catastrophe.
On Monday, they tried a state police drone in the sky with cops on the ground in Buddy’s adopted territory off Route 72. But the beefalo, who escaped the cleaver at a local meat processing business on Aug. 3, eluded all but a brief sighting by the infrared-reading drone.
Now police are planning to lay a love nest trap for the ornery bull. At first, they will try cow urine as a lure. If that doesn’t work, cops will try to procure a cow that that they can station in a pen near a trailer off the roadway, Plymouth police Capt. Edward Benecchi said Friday.
Buddy, apparently, has not had sexual intercourse for a while.
“That’s what makes him so dangerous,” Benecchi said.
Since it escaped, the horned beefalo had not been seen until a local police officer spotted it last week on the side of 72, a state roadway in the town’s Terryville section. As the officer approached, the bull lowered its head and scratched at the ground, threatening a charge, police said. The officer backed off, and the animal retreated into the thick, swampy woods it has made its home.
Most active at night, the all-black bull has been crossing Route 72, Benecchi said, which makes the effort to catch him more urgent.
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“God forbid — if someone hit this animal it would be catastrophic and cause serious injuries,” he said.
Many people have rallied to Buddy’s side with Facebook messages such as “Run Buddy Run” and “Where’s the Beefalo?” a play on a 1980s Wendy’s commercial. But the bull’s owner has vowed that once he is caught, Buddy will not become hamburger and can live out his days on the Massachusetts farm where he was raised, Benecchi said.
Meanwhile, Buddy’s celebrity expands with every day he remains on the lam. A recent tweet from @Beefalo30835628: “Beefalo here! Hope everyone had a good night... up and grazing this morning, staying clear of the fuzz ’cause I ain’t ever going back.”
Someone also placed an inflatable bull’s head near a Route 72 bridge and T-shirt sales have launched, according to posts on the Terryville Talks community Facebook page.
Sandy Beaudoin posted a poem on the page:
Beefalo, beefalo where did you go?/The town of Terryville shall never know/
Run, beefalo, run, for you’ll get caught soon/The drone will surely find you before the next moon.
You’ve escaped the slaughter house, as you’re a tough old bull/You’ve softened us all and ours hearts are full!
People are enjoying a welcome distraction from COVID-19 and all the other troubles that 2020 has brought, Benecchi said.
Locally at least, Buddy’s legend exceeds Bigfoot’s at this point, he said. Like the elusive man-beast, the police captain noted, Buddy has only been glimpsed.
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