WHATELY — If you see a loose bull running through town, it’s not celebrating the Spanish festival of Sanfermines — the famous “Running of the Bulls.”
“He got loose from the auction. Last we knew, he was somewhere in the area of Routes 5 and 10 and 116. We’ve been looking for the past hour. He’s being pretty elusive right now,” said Whately Police Chief James Sevigne.
Every week, the Northampton Cooperative Auction Association holds a cattle and farmers’ auction on Long Plain Road. According to a few people there around 2:30 p.m., the bull escaped from a trailer and ran off around 1:15 p.m.
As a precaution, police alerted the elementary school. School officials decided to keep students indoors for the remainder of the day.
“Right at that time, the kids were out at recess,” Sevigne said, noting, “(the auction) is about a mile down the road from the elementary school. It wasn’t an official lockdown or anything. It was a decision the principal made.”
If anyone has seen the loose animal, Sevigne said to stay away and call Whately Police Dispatch at 413-625-8200.