Campers forced to flee up trees to escape from rampaging bull at caravan park

A bull "acting aggressively" caused campers to climb up trees to seek safety as it rampaged through a caravan park in Australia's Northern Territory before being shot by police.



Police said the long-horned bull charged through the McArthur River campground in Borroloola, about 720 kilometres from Darwin, at around 6:00pm on Monday. "It was a bit of a danger to people at the caravan park," Duty Superintendent Brendan Muldoon said.



"I know there were 50 people at the park at this time, quite a few obviously saw it and called police to assist. Some people had to escape from the bull and hide up trees." Colin Coutts, the manager at the park, said when he learned of a commotion in the campground he went to investigate. "I jumped in the ute and went to try and hunt him out," he said. "He's gone over near a caravan and I've pulled up and got out.



"I went to shoo him and he turned around and had a go at me and put me up on the back of the ute." Mr Coutts said police were called and were trying to coax the bull back to where it came from when things turned for the worse. "It turned around and tried to attack the police car so they shot him," he said. Superintendent Muldoon said the animal was a "local bull" and owned by someone in the community.

There's an audio interview with Colin Coutts here.