Corbin police forced to kill runaway mule

Corbin Police were forced to shoot and kill a runaway mule last Thursday that couldn’t be captured after it escaped from a local man who owned the animal.

According to Corbin Police Capt. Coy Wilson, the mule was shot by Maj. Rob Jones, with a rifle, at the request of the mule’s owner.

“It had already been out on the highway and he was afraid it would get out on I-75 and get somebody hurt,” Wilson said. “They just couldn’t catch it. Every time they would get close to it, it would run like it was wild or something.”

Wilson said the owner of the animal had it for about a month before the escape. The man lives on Fifth Street Road just outside the city limits.

“He said when he opened the gate, it actually pushed him down and ran out of the pen. It was pretty wild, I guess,” Wilson said.

“This was kid of a weird situation. We’ve had them out in the road before … but luckily we never had to shoot one until now. With this one, there was just no getting it to do anything.”

Wilson said the mule ran for some distance after it was shot before it died. Authorities had to be careful to not fire on the animal until it was safe to do so since it was in a residential area. The animal was killed at the end of Scenic View Drive.