Loose bull seen running on New Jersey tracks is saved from slaughterhouse

One bull’s desperate dash for freedom appears to have paid off.

A loose bull filmed roaming the tracks of a New Jersey train station Thursday morning has been saved from the slaughterhouse and been taken in by an animal sanctuary.

The ruddy brown bull, known as Ricardo, caused travel fury for some commuters traveling between New York and New Jersey as it strutted along the center of the tracks at Newark Penn Station, perplexing onlookers. 

Ricardo’s antics prompted a police response and held up train traffic for around 45 minutes, officials said. 

The dark-tipped horned bull was eventually captured by members of the Newark Police Emergency Services Unit and the Port Authority Police Department, who contained it inside a fenced lot, according to Fox 5.

Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue, an animal sanctuary in Sussex County, announced via a Facebook video post late Thursday that it had taken the bull in and saved him from being killed. 

The video shows a groggy Ricardo lying down in what appears to be a trailer as a worker there tells him he is safe. There is hay stuck on his head and a rope around his horns.

“Ricardo waking up from tranquilizer,” the post states. “He has had a long, rough day of fighting for his life, luckily it has paid off.

“He has already been seen by our veterinarian and hopefully, he will stand up soon … just look at how handsome he is.

COW OPTS TO RUN FROM NYC SLAUGHTERHOUSE, WILL SPEND REST OF DAYS AT FARM: VIDEO

“Can you imagine that people wanted to kill and eat him? Unreal. Do the right thing, go vegan.”

Ricardo will have more than 230 acres to graze and roam, FOX 29 reports. 

New Jersey Transit also celebrated the bull’s new living arrangement, posting on X: “Great news! Our showstopper bull, Ricardo is safe at his new home, Skylands Animal Sanctuary!”

Thursday’s incident was not the first in which a bull has been loose in Newark.

In 2006, it took authorities 10 hours to capture a bull roaming around the city, according to NBC News. Two years before that, a steer escaped a slaughterhouse and wandered around Newark before it was captured and sent to a sanctuary, NBC reported.

In March, a Brooklyn pizzeria shared surveillance video of a cow making a run for it in the streets from a slaughterhouse.

No injuries were reported in Thursday’s incident, Newark police told FOX 5 New York. 

Fox News’ Pilar Arias and Sandy Ibrahim as well as the Associated Press contributed to this report.