Wednesday 30 January 2013

Better than the Scandinavian elk test

Spotted by View From The Solent in The Telegraph:

Jon Maccoll was on his way to work and close to a town centre when he was confronted by five [buffalo] running down the road. When they saw his Ford Fiesta, one of them “put his head down and charged the car”*.

In the ensuing collision, Mr Maccoll, 44, tore a tendon in his neck and hurt his hand and knee, while the buffalo had to be put down**. The 1,600lbs animals had escaped from a nearby specialist meat factory, and Mr Mccoll sued him under the Animals Act 1971.

He said: “Most people don’t believe me when I tell them what happened, you don’t expected to be going down a hill and five buffalo to run out, unless you’re in the Wild West maybe. The road has a 60 mph speed limit and I was probably doing 55 mph. I put my brakes on as quickly as possible but one was trailing at the back and put its head down and charged at the car."


* Yes, I sometimes get that urge when I see a Ford Fiesta.

** It was going to be slaughtered anyway, what's the difference?

9 comments:

Kj said...

Was this buffaloes like in american buffaloes, or the Mozzarella-producing ones? I wonder which one are the meanest.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Kj, the American ones are actually bison, they are quite different. Buffaloes are a lot more similar to cows, they don't have all the dark brown hair on their heads.

Kj said...

Yeah I just wondered who these were. Found out it was the latter. Additional question, does a Fiesta actually weigh as much as 1600 lbs?

BTW excellent work on the KLN site! It's getting to be *the* reference site for all things contra-homeownerist.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Kj, thanks.

I just remembered that I have to add the "disappearing homes" issue which the Norwegian homeowners' association said would happen, that was your idea.

Kj said...

Yeah I remember that one. Landlords wouldn't make money from renting out anymore, would sell up, and thousands of rental units would disappear from the market. Good one.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Kj, I've now included it.

JM, go on, explain, what are they good for then?

JuliaM said...

Trophy hunting, if you're feeling brave enough.. :)

Mark Wadsworth said...

JM, OK, I'll just buy the head off eBay and photoshop myself into a hunting scene.

Pogo said...

MW - to reprise an old "black country" joke. It's easy to tell the difference between a Buffalo and a Bison... You can't wash your hands in a Buffalo. :-)

(Should really be "yo cor wosh yerands in a buffalo")