Sporting Shooter writer shoots dead buffalo at NT school

Up and coming Sporting Shooter writer Ben Kleinig (not the hunter¬†pictured, who is old hand Ted Mitchell) has shot dead a wild buffalo when it posed a danger to school kids at a NT school (image: Ted Mitchell).

A wild buffalo has been shot and killed by a local teacher (and¬†Sporting Shooter writer) after running amok in a tiny Indigenous community east of Katherine in the Northern Territory.

According to an article on the ABC website it was a busy day for the community with many visitors at Manyallaluk for a funeral, when a buffalo refused to leave the airstrip.

Council workers tried to herd the buffalo off the airstrip into nearby bush when it ran into the community.

Teaching principal, Ben Kleinig, whose first article for Sporting Shooter will be featured next month, was out picking up rubbish with his students when they first spotted the buffalo.

He initially thought his students were playing a prank on him.

“It’s a pretty common joke, the kids like to yell out ‘buffalo’ or ‘snake’ to stir each other up,” Mr Kleinig said.

“I looked around the corner of the shed where they were looking and sure enough there was a buffalo running up towards the community.

“I quickly told the students to run into the school grounds so they were out of the road.

“We thought the council workers would get the buffalo turned around fairly easily, but unfortunately this buffalo kept coming up to the community and the school.

“Then when it got closer the community dogs got excited and didn’t help too much.”

The buffalo became very agitated, crashing into the school fence and knocking over a large sports equipment cage.

“By that stage I was concerned the buffalo would make it into the school grounds,” Mr Kleinig said.

The buffalo then became stuck in the yard of a nearby house where it became very aggressive.

Mourners including children were forced to shut themselves inside nearby houses.

“They were trapped inside the house, screaming and panicking with people yelling at them to stay put,” Mr Kleinig said.

Eventually it was realised the buffalo could not be removed from the community without putting lives at risk, so Mr Kleinig was called to shoot and kill the animal with his personal hunting rifle.

After it was killed the buffalo was cut up and the meat was distributed to community freezers.

You can read the full story HERE.