A bull gatecrashed into Modern High School for Girls on Tuesday afternoon and refused to leave the campus for at least a couple of hours.
The school staff failed to drive it away. The police failed to drive it away, too.
Finally, a cow, that some policemen described as “pretty”, did the trick.
The bull is suspected to have entered through a school gate left open because of a parent-teacher meeting.
Two gatekeepers who tried to stop the bull from racing inside the campus failed to stop it and suffered some “minor injuries”, a school official said.
The bull on the playground at Modern High School for Girls on Tuesday afternoon. Faces have been blurred by this newspaper since they are minors Sourced by The Telegraph
But once inside and in the school’s playground, perhaps the sight of so many children playing there got the bull excited.
The children, some of whom were in the garden, ran away from it, scared to see a bull in the school.
Efforts continued for the next couple of hours to take the bull out of the school compound.
The first attempt was to give the bull some grass to eat, which it refused, a policeman said.
The police also said there were efforts to try to tame the bull and use a rope to tie it. But that, too, failed.
“It is a strong bull and without its will, it was difficult to physically drag the animal out,” said an officer at Karaya police station.
All this happened from 1pm to 3pm. A cow was brought to the campus to lure the bull only after 3.15pm, when all students had dispersed for the day, the police said.
The cow was brought in a vehicle right up to the garden with the purpose of luring the bull out of the gate. That worked.
The bull being taken to an animal hospital in Sodepur later Sourced by The Telegraph
According to those trying to help the bull leave the campus, it moved forward after seeing the cow and was finally pushed into a vehicle and taken out of the campus. Much to the relief of the school staff and the policemen.
“My daughter was also on the field at that time along with her classmates and they were literally terrified… many girls fell and got hurt. But they are minor… they are fine now but terrified,” said a post on a social media page formed by parents of the schoolchildren.
A police officer said the bull had jumped out of a vehicle in Minto Park and ran through the streets, covering a distance of about 2km before finally entering the school.
From the school, the bull, however, was taken to Karaya police station. It was there till the evening before the cops found a home for him.
Some animal lovers descended on the police station to ensure that the bull gets a cover over its head and does not get wet in the rain.
The police arranged a cover. Finally, around 8pm, the bull was taken to an animal hospital in Sodepur in North 24-Parganas.