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Three people were injured Saturday night in central Oregon after a large bull jumped over a barrier and into the crowd at a packed rodeo event, sending onlookers scrambling for safety before the animal could be captured, the authorities said.
The incident occurred during the final portion of the bull-riding event at the 84th annual Sisters Rodeo in Sisters, Ore., more than 150 miles southeast of Portland, the rodeo said in a statement.
Video of the frantic episode circulating on social media shows a packed crowd under the arena lights, swaying and singing along to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” when a large brown bull circles the bull ring and leaps over a metal gate and into the stands. Other footage shows the bull charging through an area designated for concessions and flipping a person through the air.
When the bull first jumps the fence, a rodeo announcer can be heard giving instructions for an emergency response plan, repeatedly asking the crowd to take cover.
“Get to higher ground, everybody,” the announcers shout over the loudspeakers. “Get to higher ground, there’s a bull out!” An announcer also instructs attendees on the grass to seek shelter under the grandstands.
The Sisters Rodeo Association said the bull ran throughout the rodeo grounds and back to the livestock holding pens, where it was eventually secured by rodeo workers and placed into a pen.
The bull injured three people, event officials said, two of whom were transported to the hospital. Their conditions were unknown as of Monday morning, though Sisters Rodeo said in a post on its Facebook page that all of the injured people had returned home.
Sgt. Joshua Spano of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office told KTVZ, a local news channel, that several ambulances were called to the scene and that the bull was captured “pretty quick.”
The bull was taken home after Saturday night’s episode, and Leslie Lange, a spokeswoman for Corey and Lange Rodeo, a livestock contractor hired by Sisters Rodeo, told the channel the bull would receive additional training.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which put on several sanctioned rodeo performances throughout the five-day event, including one titled “P.R.C.A. Xtreme Bulls,” said in a statement that while rodeo is a “highly entertaining sport, on very rare occasions it can also pose some risk.”
In 2022, a bull jumped a fence at a rodeo event in California, injuring several people before being captured a half-mile from the arena.
The P.R.C.A. said it was grateful to quick-thinking rodeo staff members and emergency medical workers who prevented Saturday’s situation from being worse.
Sisters Rodeo was established in 1940 with $500 purses, and the event grew over the years into one of the most popular rodeos in the Western United States. The rodeo joined the P.R.C.A. in 1988 and often features world champions.
Despite the fiasco on Saturday, Sisters Rodeo resumed all scheduled events on Sunday.
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