Pleasant Hill residents nickname water buffalo “PHill” during their search
Police bodycam captures chase of water buffalo in Des Moines
A police bodycam showed officers attempting to capture the animal.
A runaway water buffalo that was to be slaughtered by its owner near Pleasant Hill escaped its fate on Saturday and has now been missing for the fourth day in a row.
The water buffalo, which has become an unexpected celebrity and has been nicknamed “PHill” by local residents, was almost shot when it jumped on its owner and fled, an official said, based on body camera footage of officers’ attempts to capture the escaped animal.
In body camera footage obtained by the Des Moines Register, a Pleasant Hill police officer and two Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies wearing mirrored sunglasses can be seen talking with a farmer along railroad tracks near his farm in rural Polk County, just north of Pleasant Hill’s city limits.
“Basically they tried to kill it and eat it, but it got out of the thing,” the deputy tells the Pleasant Hill police officer in the body camera footage. “It jumped on him before he could shoot it. Now he wants to shoot it down here and take care of it.”
Another MP wondered how the farmer would manage to drag the water buffalo from the railway tracks back to his property if he managed to kill it.
“We can’t let them shoot a damn animal down there,” says one MP.
So began a morning-long search for the lost animal in Pleasant Hill with help from the Animal Rescue League and Des Moines Animal Control. The 70-minute body camera footage shows police officers eventually finding the animal, attempting to shoot it in a Pleasant Hill bank parking lot, and later speaking with residents who may have seen it in an attempt to track it down.
It was last seen Saturday morning in Little Fourmile Creek, heading south toward Scott Avenue and Oakwood Boulevard. The officer who fired the shot said he hit the animal, although there is no clear evidence in the body camera footage that it was injured.
What the body camera shows in the search for a missing water buffalo
Body camera footage reveals how police responded to the situation on Saturday morning. After initial discussions, the farmer told officers to shoot down the water buffalo if they spotted it, an officer said.
Later, two Pleasant Hill police officers meet after spotting the animal. They begin to discuss how to kill the bovine when one officer offers to shoot it with a rifle.
One asks him if he plans to kill the water buffalo, to which the officer replies, “I don’t know. I’m trying to find a good setting to do it.” City spokeswoman Candace Bell later told the Register that “setting” meant the officer’s surroundings and making sure he doesn’t shoot when people or cars are nearby.
The water buffalo then runs to the Community State Bank parking lot – just off the busy main drag of East University Avenue – where the officer follows in his car and gets out with a shotgun. The officer runs across the parking lot and meets the water buffalo at the bank’s drive-thru.
The water buffalo takes a quick look at the officer and coolly walks away while the officer cocks his shotgun.
The officer follows the water buffalo and meets it on the other side of the building. The water buffalo stands still, its head tilted toward the sun, and the officer fires a shot.
The water buffalo reacts and runs for a moment, then stops and stares at the officer before walking away.
The officer, breathing heavily, shouts at the bank customers to get back in and stay in their vehicles. The officers ask each other at least twice if they have a rope to catch the water buffalo, but it escapes.
A passerby asks the officer if she should be worried, to which he replies: “We just caught a runaway wild animal.”
This is what the free-roaming water buffalo in Pleasant Hill looks like
Pleasant Hill authorities said they would use all available resources Monday to search for an escaped water buffalo that was shot and killed by a police officer over the weekend.
Residents who saw the water buffalo hoping for its safe return hope that it does not suffer
When you leave your house, you usually see a neighbor pulling out of the driveway or someone walking the dog. But residents of a quiet neighborhood south of the bank in Pleasant Hill were greeted Saturday by a water buffalo roaming through their yards.
94-year-old Anne Boers had seen something like this for the first time in her life.
“Well, I had just looked at it down the street and it had kept running,” Boers told the Register. “I was scared at first because you never see that kind of animal running around here before.”
The Boers wondered where the water buffalo had come from and hoped it was okay, she said.
Neighbours said the news of the escaped water buffalo was exciting and completely unusual for the quiet suburb. Some called for the bovine to be put to death so it could be put out of its misery.
When videos of the water buffalo in Pleasant Hill made the rounds on social media, Jessica Eshelman decided to check her home’s security camera to see if the animal had stopped by her house. And sure enough, a 23-second video showed the water buffalo trotting up to Eshelman’s porch and taking a look at her outdoor landscaping.
“I’m glad he seemed calm at the time of the video and did not damage our property,” Eshelman said in a text message to the Register. “I hope they find a way to arrest him and maybe find a peaceful solution so he can live out the rest of his life.”
Kris Wolf was enjoying time with her family one Saturday afternoon when they saw the water buffalo wandering around their neighbor’s front yard.
“We were pretty shocked,” she said. “At first we thought it was a cow until he turned his head. He looked young.”
The water buffalo appeared very calm as it walked through the neighbors’ yards, Wolf said. Police arrived and apparently tried to get the animal out of the neighbors’ driveway.
Wolf said she believes the water buffalo is somewhere near a creek bed and hopes it is OK.
“We had a lot of family here and we just came out and watched the drama,” she said. “It was like watching the rodeo from your front door. The State Fair came here.”
What is a water buffalo?
According to National Geographic, the water buffalo is the largest member of the cattle family. It can weigh between 700 and 1,200 kilograms and measure between 2.4 and 2.7 meters long without the tail. Male water buffalo have backward-curving, crescent-shaped horns that are up to 1.5 meters long.
Pleasant Hill Police have not disclosed whether the escaped water buffalo is male or female, but there are videos and pictures of it showing that it has udders and no horns.
Can Iowa residents own water buffalo?
Yes. Water buffalo are classified as a bovine species or bovids. Bovids are not covered by Iowa’s dangerous wildlife regulations, so no permit is required to own a water buffalo in Iowa.
What is this song from “Veggie Tales” that I can’t get out of my head?
Those of you who watched Veggie Tales as a kid probably thought of a song when news broke about the Pleasant Hill water buffalo. That song, of course, is “The Water Buffalo Song” featuring “Silly Songs with Larry.”
While some “Veggie Tale” songs teach viewers a lesson, this one is more of a silly rhyme that claims, “Everyone has a water buffalo.” Although Larry gets yelled at for making false claims, the tune is quite fitting for the residents of Pleasant Hill.
Register reporter Kate Kealey contributed to this report.
José Mendiola is a breaking news reporter for the Register. Reach him at [email protected].
