NEWARK, N.J. — There’s new information on a steer that got loose in New Jersey and made its way into Newark Penn Station Thursday.
The animal is now safely in custody.
Witnesses at Newark Penn Station had to steer clear as the 600-700 pound animal prepared for a morning commute.
“Everybody was just scattering, scattering. And a bull just ran past,” one commuter named Sonja said.
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From a safe distance, stunned onlookers used cellphone cameras to capture the bizarre sight. The steer left Newark Penn, heading south, and more than two miles mostly by rail to Frelinghuysen Avenue in Weequahic Park.
“I just went back like, ‘Oh my God. No, it’s not.’ I was shocked,” Sonja said.
Witnesses watched as Newark Police and Port Authority officers tried to corral the beast.
“He was trapped inside there. They had to close the gate. Then he was trying to run out. Then, every time he tried to come out, they was running, because, you know, them horns,” witness Chrishetce Robinson said.
Eventually, the steer was subdued with a tranquilizer and transported out in a trailer.
“He’s groggy and unhappy, I’ll tell you that,” Mike Stura of Skylands Animal Sanctuary & Rescue said.
Stura came and retrieved the steer, to bring him to his new home.
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“He has to go through a lot of tests now before he can get near any other animals. Make sure he’s healthy and he’s not got any diseases,” Stura said.
He said it’s likely the steer escaped en route to a Newark slaughterhouse. The steer’s future seems brighter after breaking out.
“And, hopefully, he dies of old age,” Stura said.
Rail traffic is back on, or close, to schedule after some earlier delays.
The folks at the animal sanctuary have already named that steer Ricardo.