STEER CLEAR: The bull is lassoed and trussed, but is still spoiling for a fight. Picture by Aranya Sen

People in Survey Park can now walk around without the fear of a pair of horns being thrust into their belly.

In what is being billed as the ?biggest spectacle of 2005?, a team of cops and NGO workers on Friday netted what had, indeed, been the biggest threat to the residents of the EM Bypass neighbourhood ? a full-grown bull, weighing no less than 500 kg.

A mix of physical prowess, tricks and generous doses of sedatives achieved the feat.

The bullheaded beast had been on the rampage for the past few days. Never known for pulling in its horns, it had gored over a dozen people, including a few policemen.

Its fate was sealed on Thursday morning, when it blew its own horn by assailing two traffic cops on duty at the busy Ajaynagar crossing, off the Bypass. One of them, Amal Bhattacharya, had to be admitted to RN Tagore Heart Research Institute. He was released on Friday.

Additional officer-in-charge of Purba Jadavpur police station Samir Ranjan Bhattacharya and borough XII chairman Swapan Roy spent no time in sending an SOS to the NGO Love-N-Care for Animals for taking the bull by its horn.

A team of 10, led by Sushmita Roy of Love-N-Care, arrived at the Ajaynagar crossing on Friday morning, armed with a lasso, a net, bamboo poles and sleep-inducing Xylaxine injections. A cop contingent, which included an assistant sub-inspector of the district traffic police, was also there.

But the bull was nowhere to be seen.

?It was here even a couple of hours ago!? exclaimed rickshaw-puller Ramen Naskar. ?It?s the mightiest bully in the locality, not scared of goring even policemen,? he added.

?It attacks passers-by without a hint of a provocation. We will be relieved if you carry it away,? pleaded Swapan Datta Gupta, an office-goer.

The assistant sub-inspector had a suspicion ? the target was not just headstrong, it had a perceptive mind, too. ?It might have smelt trouble and moved to a safer location. We are not being able to trace the animal,? he sighed.

An hour?s search, however, tracked the bull on Samar Datta Sarani. It was bullying dogs near a civic vat.

The NGO volunteers first tried to befriend it, but the animal was not amused. It reared up menacingly on its hind legs, threatening to crush the pursuers. A mound of biscuits was then laid out as bait. As the bull came near it and sniffed the food, the volunteers flung knots around the horns and a light noose around the neck.

The hind legs were then tied up and a veterinary doctor in the team administered a two-ml dose of Xylaxine.

But to the astonishment of all, the sedative actually helped the animal gain strength. It started hoofing the ground, kicking up a mini dust storm, and tried to strut across the road.

The doctor then administered another dose of Xylaxine, of 0.5 ml. The bull would still not fall asleep. A one-ml dose had to be injected and the fury was calmed. The animal finally fell unconscious and was ferried to the NGO?s hospital in Behala on a Matador.

?It has regained consciousness and accepted a light meal of husk,? borough chairman Roy said in the evening.