Bull that injured county fairgoers put down

Published 3:51 pm Saturday, August 10, 2013

FARMINGTON — The bull that broke loose and injured nine people at the Dakota County Fair has been put down at a slaughterhouse.

The bull’s Merill, Wis.-based owner says he felt bad about the injuries so he had the bull killed. Scott VanDerGeest of Gold Medal Cattle Co. had leased the 1,200-pound animal to the Rice Bull Riding Co. that was staging a rodeo at the fair.

Authorities don’t have a clear sense how the bull escaped from its pen and the bull riding company questions if the response went too far. When the bull stormed toward a parking lot, a sheriff’s deputy fired two shots at it.

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Local authorities defend how they handled it, saying that they were trying to control a chaotic situation.