Buffalo injures deputy; animal’s owner found gored to death

BUSHTON, Kan. (AP) — A buffalo charged and seriously injured a Kansas sheriff’s deputy one day before the animal’s owner was found gored to death, authorities say.

Ellsworth County Sheriff Murray Marston said in a news release that the buffalo had wandered onto a state highway and the deputy was trying to get the animal back in a pasture when it charged Sunday night.

A deputy from neighboring Rice County arrived and killed the buffalo when it appeared that it was preparing to charge again at the downed deputy. That deputy underwent surgery and is in stable condition, Marston said.

Then on Monday morning, dispatchers got a call from a woman who said that she had found her nephew, 56-year-old Scott Schroeder, of rural Bushton, dead in a pen and that she thought a buffalo had killed him. The body was in a row of trees not far from where the deputy was hurt, Marston said.

Schroeder owned the 20-plus buffalo that were being kept at that location, Marston said.