HOUSTON – A bull that escaped from a farm in northwest Harris County was shot with a tranquilizer gun Monday.
The incident was reported around 4 p.m. on Grand Parkway between U.S. 290 and Louetta Road.
Harris County livestock deputies were in the area searching for the bull, named Camo.
Officials said Camo is a bucking bull for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
His owners, William Barnett and JC Knapp, said he escaped from his ranch, Barn 2 Buck Ranch at 17222 Bauer Road, on Sunday.
Jay Moczulski describes seeing the bull.
"It started walking toward the right side of my car in front of me. (We were) able to pass and move along. Then he cut across in front of my car and went straight down the middle lanes," Moczulski said. "All those other cars were just parked there and the bull was just walking around."
Camo spotted a herd of heifers in a pasture just north of the intersection and went through a barbed-wire fence to join up with them. That's where Harris County livestock officers found him.
They maneuvered in the pasture for about an hour to get close enough to shoot him with a tranquilizer dart and calm him down, then loaded him into a stock trailer.
Barnett said Camo was used in a charity bull buck-out Sunday at the ranch and managed to get away at the end off the event. He got off into the scrub, where they lost sight of him. Barnett estimates Camo is worth about $75,000.
Camo will be kept overnight in county impound. His owner will be able to pick him up tomorrow after paying a fee.