Sunday, Aug. 19, 2012 | 10:36 a.m.
Commissioner's bull escapes
KSNV reports on bulls that escaped from the yard of Commissioner Tom Collins. Aug. 17, 2012.
A day after North Las Vegas police tranquilized one of his bulls that had escaped its enclosure, Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins said he’s glad no one was seriously hurt.
A woman, who did not want her name released, received stitches to her chin after being bumped by the bull. On Sunday morning, she was at Collins’ home in the 4200 block of North Decatur Boulevard, tending to the horse that she boards on his property.
The 42-year-old woman spoke in the background, filling in details, during a phone interview with Collins. He described her as a cowgirl, friend and neighbor.
The bull got out of its fenced enclosure about 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Collins said. Though not entirely rural, that part of North Las Vegas is zoned for larger lot sizes, so the city lets homeowners have cows, pigs, sheep, horses and other livestock.
“It was purely an accident,” Collins said of the escape.
Collins, who was in Logandale when the bull got out, said the woman was using a cattle-show stick, trying to turn the bull back toward a fenced area when it pushed her up against his house.
“She’s familiar with handling them and was just helping out,” he said.
He said she spent about an hour in the hospital getting stitches.
Another freed cow stood in Collins’ front yard eating grass and peaceably went back to the fenced-in area.
The escaped bull ambled on, finally cornered by North Las Vegas police about a half-mile from its pen. By this time, Collins had gotten to the scene. He asked police not to kill the valuable animal.
He said they promised that if tranquilizer darts shot by animal control officers worked, no one would shoot the animal. The darts worked, staggering the animal enough so it could be led into a trailer and carted back to Collins’ home.
Collins was issued a citation for “livestock at large,” a misdemeanor punishable with a possible fine of $1,000 or six months in jail.
This was the second incident involving Collins and law enforcement in the past two months. On July 3, he had been drinking and fired a gun in his yard, police said.
North Las Vegas police said he had become mad at a large salt cedar tree he had been trying to cut down and shot into it. He also shot a post, police said.
In that incident, he faces two charges: disturbing the peace and unlawful discharge of a weapon within city limits.
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