Loose bison off and running into the woods after crossing the Thruway in Selkirk. pic.twitter.com/Kk3MF4X1yq

Bethlehem

The astonishing sight of buffalo roaming through the suburban landscape turned into a public and social media spectacle on Friday. It ended with all 15 animals — that somehow swam across the Hudson River from Rensselaer County — shot dead in Bethlehem.

The buffalo stampede was a surprise that Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple likened to "the Wild West."

It started the day before at GEM Farm in Castleton, when a herd of what are formally named American bison got loose and their owners were unable to round them up. On Thursday night, police said, 15 swam the river from around Schodack Island, came ashore in Bethlehem and headed into an area at the end of Peltz Road.

The buffalo ran toward River Road and, despite police efforts, could not be stopped. At one point the animals calmed down, town police Lt. Thomas Heffernan said, but they then rushed across River Road and into a grassy area along the Thruway south of Selkirk Exit 22.

"It quickly became a public safety issue after the incident at the Thruway," Heffernan said. "It was not the outcome we wanted, but these were wild, unstoppable animals running around a residential area."

The spectacle was tailor-made for Twitter. Reporters, local residents and motorists armed with cellphones covered the action through photos and text messages of 140 characters, laced with irresistible puns such as "This story has legs." It spread across the Internet. The Buffalo News, naturally, contacted the Times Union, and a London newspaper called, too.

It didn't take long for a crowd to form near the Thruway.

"Oh, no," one lady cried out. "The poor babies. They are going to get hit on the highway. Everyone get back. Don't force them that way."

But it was too late.

A 1,300-pound bull leading the charge pushed easily through a fence and with smaller buffalo in tow ran across Interstate 87. Truck and car horns blared and tires screeched, but the herd made it and headed into a mix of residential and farm lands.

Police decided to allow hunters hired by the animals' owners shoot them in a remote area. A State Police helicopter helped spot them.

The tension increased on Willowbrook Road when the marksmen and law enforcement officers saw the herd coming up a creek gulch. One rifleman shot two of the bison, killing one and wounding the other.

"Instead of dispatching the injured animal," Sheriff Apple said, "the hired gun starts instead to shoot at the rest of the herd running in retreat. Even if he hit them in the rear quarters, it would not have taken them down. It would likely only make them madder. It was getting to be like the Wild West and I put an end to it."

Apple asked the unidentified man to stop but he refused. The sheriff then forcefully took the man's gun, and he was taken into custody after a brief struggle with officers.

He was released, but Apple said, "I don't know at this point whether he will be charged with anything. We have to take some time to sort through this mess."

Early on, George Mesick, the Schodack farmer who owned the herd, said he had little hope they could be captured unharmed.

"There is a zero percent chance of getting them back right now," he said. "I just want to get this done with as fast as possible so that no one gets hurt."

At a news conference in Bethlehem, several tired law enforcement officers said they felt bad about the result.

"We were not going to stop them any other way," Apple said.

Among those speaking to reporters was Thomas Gallagher, a livestock specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, who advised police. He underscored the difficulty of dealing with such massive animals.

Tranquilizer guns would not have worked because of their thick hide, he said.

"You'd have to get up about 30 feet from them and hit them with two shots just to have a chance," Gallagher said. "I can tell you there is no way you could get close enough without them running off."

Gallagher said the suggestion that the buffalo be lassoed by riders on horseback was not considered. "I can assure you that would not work. They are very strong animals and would pull you right off the horse," he said.

On Thursday, Schodack police had killed six of the animals at Schodack Island State Park and state parks police dispatched another on Friday, according to the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The park on the Hudson will reopen Saturday.

Because the farm-raised animals were killed in the wild, they cannot be used for meat and must be properly disposed of, Gallagher said. The exact disposition of the carcasses wasn't known.

This wasn't the first time that local bison had busted loose. It happened in Schoharie County in the summer of 2013, with number of them shot and killed.

"These are not like domestic cows," said Gallagher, the Cornell Coop livestock specialist. "You don't go out in front of them and wave your arms to turn them around. They will come right at you. They are very tough and have been known to bust through just about any fence and even through barn walls."

Skip Dickstein and Madeline St. Amour contributed to this story. bgardinier@timesunion.com • 518-454-5696 • @BobGardinier