Charging bison injures deputy; animal’s owner found dead

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH/Gray News) - Authorities in Kansas say the owner of a bison was found gored to death the day after a sheriff’s deputy was injured by the animal.

KWCH reports that Ellsworth County 911 received a call around 9 a.m. Monday from the aunt of 56-year-old Scott Schroeder, of Bushton, who found her nephew dead in a pen. She said she thought that a bison had killed him.

He was the owner of more than 20 bison, according to the Ellsworth County Sheriff’s Office.

Schroeder’s body was found in a row of trees north of K-4 highway and 5th Road. It was about 1/4 of a mile south of where an Ellsworth County deputy was injured by a bison Sunday night.

The deputy, who was not named, was trying to return the bison to a pasture near the highway when it suddenly charged and seriously injured him.

A Rice County deputy arrived at the scene of the attack as it occurred, and the bison was put down when it appeared that it was preparing to charge at the injured deputy.

The deputy underwent surgery Sunday night at Salina Regional Health Center and is in stable condition.

Authorities said the coroner’s preliminary cause of death, pending an autopsy, is that Schroeder had been gored by an animal. It is likely he was killed before the deputy was injured.

Both incidents are under investigation.

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