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He is running for his life.
A 1,500-pound bull remains on the loose in the Mastic area, Suffolk County Police reported.
Police said the powerful wild animal was seen earlier on Tuesday roaming parts of Montgomery Ave. and Dean St. and briefly caused the shut down of a portion of Sunrise Highway at exit 58.
“Police responded to 911 calls reporting a bull running loose on Montgomery Avenue in Mastic at approximately 8:20 a.m. The bull has been spotted in Mastic and Shirley …” police said. “It was determined that the approximately 1,500 pound bull escaped from a farm, located at 136 Barnes Road in Manorville, after breaking through a fence this morning.”
Television news reports, including one from News12, indicated that the animal was to be sacrificed today as part of a religious ritual and had managed to escape from a slaughterhouse in Moriches.
Police asked that all sightings of the bull be reported to emergency personnel at 911.
Here’s some footage of the beast trotting through a neighborhood in Mastic.
“Please stay in your homes,” read an alert from SCPD. “Do not approach, call 911.”
The animal advocacy organization Long Island Orchestrating for Nature (LION) said they are working with police to secure the bull and place him in a sanctuary.
“We are on site looking for the bull and with Jaeger’s Run Animal Rescue Inc. who has a tranquilizer gun ready to secure him,” LION posted on Facebook.
A sanctuary in New Jersey has agreed to take the bull in and the owners have given permission for the bull to be spared, LION officials said.
Brookhaven Town Deputy Supervisor Dan Panico posted on Facebook that he was driving through the area when he received the police alert on his phone. He didn’t actually see the bull, he said, but he spoke to neighbors who did.
News 12 reporter Virginia Huie posted door cam video footage of the bull trotting down a Mastic street.
This is a developing story. Check back at GreaterMoriches for more information.
Brian Harmon contributed to this report.
