Pleasant Hill release bodycam of an officer shooting a water buffalo with a shotgun
By: Body camera video that shows a Pleasant Hill police officer firing one shot from a shotgun Saturday morning at a water buffalo on the loose.
Three days later, the wounded animal has not been located and authorities aren't sure if it's alive or dead.
Just after 10 a.m. Saturday, a 911 caller alerted authorities about the loose animal, which escaped from its enclosure on a property north of town and wandered south into town.
"It's running down the street," the unidentified caller told dispatchers of the reportedly aggressive and dangerous animal. "I need somebody to shoot it."
Authorities have not yet publicly named the owner of the water buffalo.
Pleasant Hill police said they first encountered the animal around 10 a.m. Saturday in the 2000 block of NE 56th Street, and attempted to help guide it back to its owner's property. But the animal took off, wandering through several properties and across busy roads.
Officers caught up to it at Community State Bank on North Hickory Boulevard, just south of East University Avenue. That's where an officer fired one shot from a shotgun, wounding the animal on the left side of its belly.
It's unclear what type of ammunition was used and how badly the animal was hurt. But it escaped capture there and disappeared into a neighborhood.
Water buffalo in Pleasant Hill, IowaPhotos: KCCI viewers share photos of water buffalo wandering through Pleasant Hill
Pleasant Hill officials said they're still looking for the animal. They've partnered with the Polk County Sheriff's Office to perform an aerial search using a drone, and officers are using ATVs to search along bike trails in the area where it was last seen — near Little Four Mile Creek walking south toward Scott Avenue
Authorities say if you see the injured water buffalo, do not approach it.