A 56-year-old Bushton man has been killed and an Ellsworth County Sheriff deputy seriously injured by buffalo during a span of two days in Ellsworth County.
According to Sheriff Murray Marston, the body of Scott Schroeder of rural Bushton was found early Monday morning in a row of trees north of K-4 Highway at Fifth Road in Ellsworth County. Marston said Ellsworth County 911 dispatch received a call from a woman at 9:03 a.m. Monday requesting an ambulance because she found her nephew (Schroeder) dead in a pen. She told dispatch she thought a buffalo had killed him. Ellsworth County Sheriff’s deputies and Claflin EMS responded.
Marston said the coroner’s preliminary cause of death, pending an autopsy, is that Schroeder was gored by an animal. Schroeder was the owner of more than 20 buffalo being kept at that location.
The day before, at 6:38 p.m., Ellsworth County 911 received a call about a buffalo on K-4 Highway at Fifth Road in Ellsworth County. Rice County was also contacted about the report because the south side of K-4 Highway is in Rice County.
An Ellsworth County deputy was dispatched to the area where he found the animal and attempted to get it to return to a pasture. The buffalo suddenly charged him, seriously injuring the deputy. He was transported by Claflin EMS to Ellsworth County Medical Center and later to Salina Regional Health Center.
The location where the deputy was injured is approximately one-quarter mile south of where Schroeder’s body was found.
Both incidents are still under investigation. As of presstime, the deputy was not named.