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Neighborhood put on toro alert

 
Published Jan. 23, 2004|Updated Aug. 27, 2005

The deputy dispatched to Caliber Court at about 9 p.m. Wednesday was advised "a large white and black cow was ramming cars and charging at neighbors."

But residents of the cul-de-sac say the cars were more nuzzled than rammed, and the neighbor in most peril found safety in a tree.

It was the second time Wednesday that the nearly 2-year-old Holstein bull had escaped from Tiffany Iavelo's farm on Dusty Lane, roaming about 200 yards to Caliber Court. Nobody was quite sure what Buddy was after.

Was he looking for love?

"Well, yeah, he's definitely interested," Iavelo said. "He might be."

Was he angry?

Not exactly, said Caliber resident Susan Bell. He was more friendly than menacing, but he did chase her husband into the house.

"He was probably 600 pounds, but he was a baby," Bell said. "He wasn't vicious at all."

For a moment, Buddy seemed to be scratching his head on her husband's white 2004 Toyota Solara. When neighbors tried to shoo Buddy away, he turned on them, bucking and snorting.

The bull took a special interest in neighbor W. James Arnold, a chief warrant officer for the U.S Coast Guard. Buddy chased Arnold around for several minutes until the 41-year-old climbed a tree. From his perch, he reached down and pet the bull on his head.

Arnold's wife, Kris, said it was the most excitement they had seen since their 15-year-old son accidentally drove the family car through the front of the house last year.

Buddy tried to knock over Valerie Male's mailbox. But she said it was worth it to see the neighborhood men getting chased by a bull.

"When the police finally came," she said, "they just kind of laughed and shook their heads. They didn't know what to do."

One of the neighbors went and found Iavelo, who came and led Buddy back to her 10-acre property through a path in the woods adjacent to Caliber Court.

"He's like a dog, just a 500-pound dog," Iavelo, 29, said. "He just wants to play; he doesn't realize that he's 500 pounds when he's bumping into you and stuff."

She said Buddy had escaped over a place in the fence where neighborhood kids had been coming over into her property.

"It looks like they tore the barbed wire down off the top," she said, "and now it has pushed the fence down and it's broken from bending so much."

Buddy got loose again, about 11:30 p.m. This time, he had broken through the aluminum siding she and her husband had put up to plug the fence.

She rounded him up again and tied him to a pole, she said. Iavelo and her husband plan to fix the fence this weekend.

They also keep horses, pigs, chickens, dogs and cats on their property. But Buddy is her only bull, Iavelo said.

The pigs are for eating, she said, but not Buddy.

"We threaten him, but we're not going to eat him," she said, joking.

But another night like Wednesday might make her want to reconsider.