- Bradley McMichael, 45, was fatally attacked by two water buffaloes he bought at a livestock auction just a day earlier, police said
- The farm where he died had been in his family for at least three generations
- McMichael’s fiancée, Jennifer Green, 44, tells PEOPLE he was an experienced farmer who had worked with livestock since he was a teenager
An Oklahoma man died after being attacked by two water buffaloes he bought at a livestock auction just a day earlier, according to police.
Bradley McMichael, 45, was found in an animal enclosure at McMichael Farms in Jones, about 20 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, on the evening of Friday, July 11. According to the Jones Police Department, he had “multiple deep lacerations that proved to be fatal.”
Opening up about the fateful day, McMichael’s fiancée, Jennifer Green, 44, tells PEOPLE that the couple ate breakfast together that morning and last spoke on the phone at roughly 10 a.m. local time. About an hour later, a friend communicated with him by text.
That evening, after Green could not reach him, she searched the farm and found him in an enclosure with the buffaloes, prompting her to call 911.
“I could see his legs and his lower back,” she says. “He was turned away.”
Police and fire officials responded to her call at about 8:30 p.m., but were initially unable to reach McMichael due to the aggressive behavior of the animals.
“They were blocking us getting through the gate when we tried to move the gate,” Green says, explaining how they used their horns to shove against it, preventing anyone from accessing the enclosure.
Police believe he had been tending to the animals when he became trapped in their enclosure.
Green said the rest of the cattle were loose on the farm but McMichael penned the two water buffaloes, a standard practice for animals who are brought to the farm as moving an animal following an auction can be stressful on them.
“That’s one of the precautions you take when you bring new livestock home,” she explains. “You pen them separate from the rest of your animals until they get acclimated.”
By the time they were able to reach McMichael, he had succumbed to his injuries. For the safety of everybody at the scene, both animals were euthanized.
Chief Bryan Farrington, who has been with the police department for several years, says this is not something that commonly occurs and that he is not aware of any previous fatal water buffalo attacks in Jones.
“Growing up around here my whole life, and around livestock my whole life, working with any large animals and livestock, there’s always a danger to it,” he tells PEOPLE.
Green announced his death on the McMichael Farms Facebook page on Sunday, saying, in part, “we lost Bradley on Friday in a tragic accident.”
Green tells PEOPLE the farm has been in the family for at least three generations and that McMichael had worked with livestock since he was a teenager.
She went on to remember him as a great man and an experienced farmer, who loved to laugh, play jokes on people and who tried not to take life too seriously.
“He loved agriculture and livestock and farming and had been involved with it his whole life,” she says. “His farm was his dream.”
