An Ellsworth County Deputy was seriously injured Sunday when he responded to a report of a buffalo on K-4 at 5th Road. In a related story, a man was found Monday morning at a nearby location and the preliminary cause of death is that the subject had been gored by an animal.

Ellsworth County Sheriff Murray A. Marston issued a news release about the deceased, 56-year-old Scott Schroeder of rural Bushton, and about the injured deputy, whose name was not released.

At approximately 6:38 p.m. on Sunday, August 7, Ellsworth County 911 received a call about a buffalo on K-4. Rice County dispatch was also contacted because the south side of the highway is in Rice County.

An Ellsworth County Deputy was dispatched to the area where he found the animal and attempted to get it to return to a pasture when the buffalo suddenly charged him, seriously injuring the deputy. The deputy was transported by Claflin EMS to the Ellsworth County Medical Center, and was later transfered to Salina Regional Health Center.

The injured deputy underwent surgery Sunday night at Salina Regional Health Center and is in stable condition, Marston reported Monday. “A Rice County deputy arrived at the scene of the attack last night just as it occurred and the buffalo was put down when it appeared that it was preparing to charge at the down deputy,” he added.

“This morning, August 8th, 2022 at approximately 9:03 a.m., Ellsworth County 911 received a call from a lady that said that she needed an ambulance because she had found her nephew dead in a pen and that she thought a buffalo had killed him,” the sheriff later reported. “Ellsworth County deputies and Claflin EMS were dispatched to the scene. The location of the body was in a row of trees north of K-4 highway at 5th Road in Ellsworth County. The location of the deputy that was injured (Sunday) night was approximately one-fourth of a mile south of where the deceased body was found this morning.”

Schroeder was the owner of more than 20 buffalo being kept at that location.

The coroner’s preliminary cause of death report is pending an autopsy. Both incidents are still under investigation.