In the summer of 1820, as he led an army expedition across the territory that became Iowa, Capt. Stephen Kearney spotted “a large drove of Buffaloe … probably 5 thousand.” Of course, the animals weren’t buffalo. The big, shaggy beasts were bison.
It doesn’t feel quite so pedantic to make that distinction now that Iowans have gotten to know Phill, an actual buffalo who jumped over a fence and into headlines this summer.
Phill is an Asian buffalo, and farmers in Asia use the buffalo like farmers here use oxen — to pull plows and other things, and sometimes as meat. Phill was one of four young Asian buffalo purchased by a Des Moines resident from a breeder in Kansas earlier this year, but he wasn’t looking for animals to plow his rented property in Pleasant Hill. He wanted meat.
One of the four had already been butchered when Phill jumped the fence in August and ran for his life. Remarkably, he managed to evade capture for five days in Pleasant Hill, attracting national media attention and an online cheering section who named the fugitive Phill, a contraction of “Pleasant Hill.” The police almost had Phill cornered early on, but he managed to escape, even though he was wounded when an officer shot him in the flank.
The police eventually caught up with Phill again, and with the help of the Animal Rescue League, tranquilized him. Phill was transported to ISU’s Large Animal Hospital for treatment before reaching the happily-ever-after stage of his story.
Jared and Shawn Camp, who run Iowa Farm Sanctuary, the state’s only vegan farm sanctuary, had gotten the buffalo owner to turn over Phill and the other two — one male, one female — to the sanctuary. When Phill got out of the hospital, he went straight to the sanctuary in Oxford and was reunited with the newly named Sal and Jane. The three have been dubbed “the Moo Crew,” and are now enjoying life next to other IFS residents, like Henry the one-eyed turkey.
Shortly after Iowa’s most famous buffalo arrived at his new home, IFS posted a video of a very contented-looking Phill cuddling with Shawn Camp. Buffalo cuddle? Who knew? Not me, and definitely not Capt. Kearney who didn’t know the difference between a bison and a buffalo 204 years ago.
This article was originally published in Little Village’s December 2024 issue.
