CLARENCE, N.Y. -- A 53-year-old woman may have been looking for a wandering tortoise when she was apparently killed by bison on her family's western New York farm, authorities said.
According to the Erie County sheriff's deputies, Jane Gilmore died Wednesday evening at her farm in the town of Clarence northeast of Buffalo.
Family members told police that Gilmore was apparently looking for a large tortoise Wednesday afternoon when she entered the fenced-in field where three bison and a cow grazed.
Hours later, a family member spotted her body in the field and called police. Because the bison were being aggressive, a helicopter was brought in to retrieve her body.
The medical examiner's office said Gilmore died from "crush injuries" to her chest.
Llamas, goats, pot-bellied pigs, deer and even bobcats have been kept at the petting farm visited yearly by thousands of children and run by Gilmore and her sister Camille O'Reilly, neighbors and police said.
No ordinances were being violated by the farm, officials said. They doubted any action would be taken against the bison, which are considered livestock and kept behind an electrified fence.
According to the Erie County sheriff's deputies, Jane Gilmore died Wednesday evening at her farm in the town of Clarence northeast of Buffalo.
Family members told police that Gilmore was apparently looking for a large tortoise Wednesday afternoon when she entered the fenced-in field where three bison and a cow grazed.
Hours later, a family member spotted her body in the field and called police. Because the bison were being aggressive, a helicopter was brought in to retrieve her body.
The medical examiner's office said Gilmore died from "crush injuries" to her chest.
Llamas, goats, pot-bellied pigs, deer and even bobcats have been kept at the petting farm visited yearly by thousands of children and run by Gilmore and her sister Camille O'Reilly, neighbors and police said.
No ordinances were being violated by the farm, officials said. They doubted any action would be taken against the bison, which are considered livestock and kept behind an electrified fence.