Saleyard bull posed risks before its deadly charge

Staff at a Hastings stockyard had tried to remove an agitated bull before it fatally attacked a man yesterday.

Napier livestock consultant Peter William Raeburn Hunter, 61, died after suffering serious chest injuries from the mauling at about 10am.

Police said Mr Hunter was helping organisers prepare for a sale at the Stortford Lodge Saleyards on Maraekakaho Rd when the animal turned on him.

The bull charged through a gate, mauling Mr Hunter as he tried to escape.

Yard manager Bruce Campbell said it was an unfortunate incident and the first death at the yards, which have been a focal point of Hawkes Bay's farming community for generations.

"We don't get too many of them country-wide thank goodness, but there is always that odd chance and today was our bad luck day.

Mr Campbell said staff had become aware the bull was agitated and a risk to people and had decided to put it back on a truck.

"We were trying to get it into a pen and it just wouldn't let anyone close enough to latch the gate," he said.

"That's when we found it was starting to get a bit wound up, so we thought we'd get it out of the way and put it into another pen and that's when it all happened."

An ambulance took Mr Hunter to the nearby Hawkes Bay Regional Hospital where he died.

The death has been referred to the coroner and is also being investigated by the Labour Department.

Police said the bull was later destroyed.

- NZPA