Many thanks to the Salt Lake Tribune for information which lead to the filing of this column:

Trooper Martin of the Idaho State Police is on his way home near Salt Lake City when he spots a taxicab parked on the median.

The trooper pulls in behind the cab. The driver runs toward the trooper yelling. Not a smart thing to do to a cop. The trooper yells for the cabbie to "stay back!"

"It’s not me," says the cabbie, "look behind you."

Trooper Martin spins around just in time to see a large buffalo charging him. The trooper leaps over the hood of his police cruiser to escape the snorting bison. Martin calls the dispatcher and advises there’s "a buffalo on the loose — make that two buffaloes."

The radio operator calls for backup. Moments later extra Idaho state troopers, Salt Lake County sheriff’s deputies and city police from Salt Lake show up.

The cops learn that the male and female buffaloes escaped from pens in South Salt Lake and have since charged residents of apartment complexes and several vehicles in the area.

At one point, Trooper Martin dives over a fence to avoid a charging critter. Over a period of several hours the small contingent of cops are unable to corral the buffalo. One of the buffaloes is shot and killed as it charges two cops, and the other is killed by Trooper Martin, dropped by handgun fire as it charges within six feet of the trooper.

Imagine the paperwork that follows this Wild West nightmare. Trooper Martin, scheduled to be off duty at midnight, gets home just before dawn.

"I’ve been up all night worried sick," says Mrs. Martin as the dog-tired trooper walks in the kitchen door. "What in heaven’s name have you been doing?"

Irritated, Trooper Martin says, "Just doing my job, that’s all. Can we talk about this later?"

Trooper Martin later confides, "I know she thought I’d been out there fooling around, but I was too tired to talk." The rest of the couple’s conversation is censored, but the air does clear a bit after the newspaper comes out.