SC deputies have close encounter with ‘four-legged fugitive’: A farm animal on the loose

South Carolina sheriff’s deputies had a close encounter with a “four-legged fugitive” after an “unusual” 911 call in Sumter County. So unusual, the responding deputies had to ask dispatch to repeat the call.

A homeowner near Highway 15 North called the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office just after 10:30 a.m. Thursday after discovering a full-grown bull in their front yard, officials said, in a neighborhood surrounded by forest, farmland and pastures.

By the time deputies arrived. the bull had wandered into another yard. Luckily, the bull was not aggressive as deputies approached him. One responder called to the bull, and the animal followed his voice, the sheriff’s office said. Keeping a safe distance, deputies returned to their patrol vehicles with the bull following in tow.

The bull stopped near the passenger window of a patrol car. It was so calm, a deputy stepped out of the car and gently patted it on its head, officials said, which the bull seemed to like.

With some coaxing, a deputy slowly led the bull down the road to bring him back to his home several hundred yards away, where his owner brought him back inside the pasture.

The bull’s name, deputies learned, is Rowdy.

“He is almost like a pet—almost,” the bull’s owner told the sheriff’s office. “We are careful, after all, he is still a bull.”

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