Steer Enters Grandstand During TED NUGENT Show At County Fair

The Associated Press has issued the following report:

A rambunctious steer broke free at the Clark County Fair [in Ridgefield, Washington] and bounded into the grandstand arena during a concert by Ted Nugent before being corralled, officials said.

The fair's executive director, Thomas D. Musser, said the young steer's unplanned entrance drew cheers from a packed house of Nugent's fans Tuesday evening, but he couldn't recall what the rocker had to say.

Musser said the animal got loose while being unloaded and bolted downhill from the livestock barns.

"They had it once on the side of the hill and they were starting to lead it back when all of a sudden it spun and came down through the entrance to the grandstand," he said.

The steer leaped over a security fence, rumbled into the rear quarter of the compound behind the stage and stopped in a corner.

A fair employee for the bull riding competition happened to be nearby and "grabbed the rope on the steer and wrapped the rope around a post and held onto it, and the steer was caught," Musser said. "We brought in a trailer, loaded him up and got him the heck out of here."

An employee who tried to stop the steer earlier was taken to a hospital for a possible shoulder separation, and a woman who was hit by the animal had only a cut on the back of her head and declined medical treatment, Musser said.

Animals occasionally get loose at the fair, but for one to bolt into a crowd is "very rare because they want to get away from people," he said.

The wayward steer may have caught a break. Nugent and his wife Shemane are authors of "Kill It & Grill It", a wild game and fish cookbook.