Buffaloed
Update: The local news radio station WTOP reports:
Local drivers were buffaloed Sunday night as a bison brought traffic to a halt in Loudoun County.
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office reported a bison in the middle of the road at Route 7 and Yellow Schoolhouse Road, with a companion keeping guard on the shoulder. The animal caused delays for 90 minutes.
The animals ventured away from a nearby farm where about 20 bison are raised.
Neither bison was injured during the traffic delay.
We were coming back from WV and a wonderful evening with friends when we saw the blue lights flashing ahead. A lot of them. And we saw all the red taillights of the stopped cars in both eastbound lanes. We have a GPS in the car - it comes in really handy once in a while - and plotted a diversion to what we hoped was around the problem ahead.
After winding our way through dirt side roads, on to Snickersville Turnpike, then back on another dirt road, we got back to the highway. And as it turned out we got back to the highway just past the problem! A sherff’s deputy was there so we asked him what the problem was. (He was pouring pellets from a large bag into a bucket.)
“A buffalo on the road”, he said.
“A what?”, my wife asked. I’m glad she did, I couldn’t have heard that right.
“A buffalo on the road!”, he said again.
Alright, whatever, a buffalo in the road. Once home (via a now empty road) I googled around. Seems that there is a guy who keeps buffalo in that area. I can see how a two-ton animal might be a traffic problem! And would be hard to fence too.