A few people in south Mandan woke up Monday morning to find Angus bulls in their yards.

The two animals were ready for slaughter at Missouri Valley Meat Co. on Marina Road at about 8:30 a.m. when they escaped through an open gate. A man who answered the phone at Missouri Valley Meat Co. but would not identify himself said the bulls were kept behind a chain link fence but got away when a gate was left open.

Missouri Valley Meat Co. employees and Mandan police caught up with one of the animals in the Marina Bay area. Mandan Police Sgt. Scott Stromsodt said several people who live in the housing development along the Missouri River called 911 to report that they spotted the bulls in yards and streets.

Stromsodt said the animals would have had to cross a couple of streets to get to Marina Bay. No one was injured by the bulls and no property was damaged.

One of the animals was found in Marina Bay, moved to the less populated LakeWood Harbor development, and was shot with a rifle, Stromsodt said. The second animal was tracked down south of Mandan and was shot.

Mandan Police Chief Dennis Rohr said the Missouri Valley Meat Co. employee didn't do anything wrong when he shot the animal in city limits. Stromsodt said he authorized the shot because the employee was better equipped to kill the animal.

Rohr said that even without the go-ahead from Stromsodt, the employee did the right thing in stopping the animal before things turned bad.

Berg's 24 Hour Towing was called to move the 1,800- to 2,200-pound animals. They used a crane to lift the dead animals into a pickup for transport back to the meat processing, packing and distribution plant.

(Reach reporter Mike Albrecht at 250-8261 or cops@ndonline.com.)