A rambunctious steer who wandered onto the tracks at Newark’s Penn Station and disrupted train traffic between New Jersey and New York City will spend the rest of his days at an animal sanctuary, where he has been dubbed “Ricardo.”
The young Texas Longhorn drew attention Thursday morning when transit officials announced there would be up to a 45-minute delay between Newark and New York City and shared a picture of Ricardo standing in the middle of the tracks.
A chaotic scene unfolded as police and other emergency crews tried to corral the steer, a witness told CNN affiliate News 12 New Jersey.
“They tried to corner the bull not once but twice,” Cheryl H. told the station. “The second time, the bull charged at them, and they all kind of scattered like roaches because they were afraid of the bull, of course.”
Ricardo was eventually tranquilized and taken to the Skyland Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in Wantage, about 50 miles away.
The sanctuary’s founder and president, Mike Stura, told CNN the steer is about one and a half years old and weighs between 750 and 850 pounds.
After being eased out of sedation, Ricardo appeared “much brighter and looking very handsome,” Stura said on CNN’s “Laura Coates Live” Friday night.
“He’s doing much better than he was when I first met him,” Stura said. “He was tranquilized. He was flat out on his side, and that’s no good for them. Bovines can’t lay flat on their side like that.”
Ricardo has since sat up and is laying on his chest but has yet to stand, Stura said. The steer has also been given antibiotics to prevent pneumonia and will remain in quarantine until a veterinarian clears him to join other animals, he said in an earlier interview.
Stura believes the steer escaped from a local slaughterhouse before wandering onto the tracks.
A steer is a bull that has been castrated to be more docile, Stura explained.