BELLA VISTA, Ark. — A herd of 14 bison is no longer roaming the streets in Bella Vista. After 8 hours of tracking them down, police returned the animals to their owner, Brush Creek Bison in Missouri.
Neighbors in the area say they noticed the bison roaming around their neighborhood as early as 6:50 a.m. Monday.
Police say the bison were first spotted near Glasgow Road and Branchwood, near Fire Station 3.
The bison continued moving across the area, splitting up. Making it harder for police to wrangle them all. However, neighbors had no trouble finding the bison because the bison came to them.
“I see this big ole creature in the road. I had no idea what it was,” said Crystal Charman, a resident who saw the bison.
She was on the way to work when a bison made its way to her neighborhood off Glasgow Rd. and Glassgow Drive. At around 10 a.m., another neighbor spotted the bison outside of her home while she was gardening. But rather than running away, she pulled out her phone.
“It was so cool,” said Mary Book, who saw bison.
She’s not the only one who thought it was a sight to see.
“It was really neat. You don’t see that too often,” said Doug Robertson.
Neighbors say they’re not too surprised to see an animal roaming the area. Saying they’ve seen plenty of wild critters, but never a bison.
“It’s like, oh my gosh, only in Bella Vista. This is the wilderness, I guess,” said Book.
“We’re so used to seeing deer, fox, coyotes, all kinds of small creatures,” said Charman.
Some watched as the herd of bison came by their neighborhood.
“Just amazed, just like wow, this is so neat. And we just stood right there in front of our house watching him, and I was taking pictures, and I was like well go see that too often,” said Robertson.
All 14 of the bison were rescued and returned home by animal control and Bella Vista officers.
5NEWS reached out to Brush Creek to find out how the bison escaped, but they have not responded.
Bison herd on the loose in Bella Vista
Editor's Note: The original version of this article stated a herd of buffalo on the loose. This was based on initial police reporting.