116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Pleasant Hill water buffalo settles in Johnson County sanctuary after surviving attempted slaughter, police shooting
Three water buffaloes escape suburban slaughter
Dec. 1, 2024 6:00 am, Updated: Dec. 2, 2024 8:06 am
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
OXFORD — After escaping from his owner and living on the lam for several days earlier this year, a Pleasant Hill water buffalo has been put out to pasture in an animal sanctuary near Oxford.
Background
The bovine in question escaped Aug. 24 from a small acreage in the Des Moines suburb, coming to the viral attention of residents as it was recorded by residential cameras wandering through streets and yards.
Pleasant Hill police fired one injuring shot at the water buffalo during efforts to contain it, claiming those efforts “led the animal to show its aggressiveness toward Pleasant Hill officers,” police said in a social media post. Police were told by its owner it was aggressive.
Body camera footage subsequently released showed the bull standing still from a distance in the moments leading up to the shot. It ran off after being shot.
With the help of animal rescue and control groups, the water buffalo was apprehended four days later and treated in the Large Animal Hospital at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
What’s happened since
Amid the chaos, residents across Iowa called on one nonprofit they trusted to help the situation: the Iowa Farm Sanctuary.
After being tagged on social media, the sanctuary specializing in former farm animals negotiated with its owner the surrender of the escapee, as well as two others on the same property. The owner housed them on a rented property where they were not permitted.
PHill, named by his newfound fans after the Des Moines suburb he came from, was transferred to his new home in rural Oxford by early September, along with two other water buffaloes: Jane and Sal.
The mission to capture PHill cost a total of about $12,000, according to a KCCI-TV investigation — $10,000 for police personnel and equipment, plus $2,000 for public works personnel and equipment.
It took two tranquilizer darts to finally subdue PHill and 12 people with straps to lift him out of a water-filled channel.
Jered Camp, cofounder and president of the board of directors for the Iowa Farm Sanctuary, said PHill’s escape started when his former owner attempted to slaughter him with a knife.
The animals were purchased from an illegal operation in Kansas and raised for meat. One other water buffalo was slaughtered at the Pleasant Hill property before PHill’s escape.
“It was pretty awesome how the community came together. That’s the only reason we were able to rescue PHill, Jane and Sal — the community being good advocates for him,” Camp said. “This kind of thing happens all the time, where animals get out, and most of them go by the wayside. Because PHill was a water buffalo and so sweet, that just set him apart from everyone else.”
Though veterinarians were unable to remove the bullet slug lodged inside him, PHill’s wound has healed and his health has returned to normal since settling into the 40-acre farm. Thick skin, a characteristic for this type of water buffalo, may have aided his survival.
A domesticated, mixed breed variant between river and swamp water buffaloes, PHill is considered a “blond” and typically is used in Mediterranean countries like Italy to produce the milk used for buffalo mozzarella cheese. Water buffaloes are used for plowing fields in Asia, as well as meat. They are the national animal of Vietnam.
Domesticated adult water buffaloes can weigh 800 to 1,600 pounds. Wild water buffaloes, such as those found in Africa, can weigh much more and be much more aggressive.
But PHill, who is between 2 and 3 years old, is described by his new handler as “a laid back dude” who is “super chill.”
Camp said that, unlike many farm animals, PHill’s personality is what cultivated compassion from thousands watching surveillance video taken through doorbell cameras as he lived a life on the lose.
Since PHill came to Oxford in September, the Iowa Farm Sanctuary has had more visitors than it received throughout the rest of 2024.
“A lot of animals experience the complex emotions that people do, and he’s got a very expressive face. It showed a lot of that complex emotion, and people gravitated toward that,” he said. “They saw him as more of an individual rather than part of the food system or agricultural chain.”
Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.
Daily Newsletters