{"id":415624,"date":"2026-01-18T21:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T21:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/415624\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T21:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T21:31:13","slug":"oklahoma-bison-run-scared-of-a-600-pound-petting-zoo-pig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/415624\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Bison Run Scared Of A 600-Pound Petting Zoo Pig"},"content":{"rendered":"

With their immense size and pugnacious attitudes, bison have few natural predators. Their natural enemies include humans, wolves, grizzlies, and Dot the pig.<\/p>\n

Dot is a 6-year-old, 600-pound pig that lives at the Long Lake Resort in Poteau, Oklahoma. According to John Hendricks, the resort’s owner, his personable pig has a long-running beef with the bison on the other side of the fence.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe knows how to scare them, which I think is great,\u201d he said. \u201cWhenever the buffalo get close to the fence, she\u2019ll strut over to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hendricks recently captured a video of Dot in a cross-fence tussle with one of the 20 bison roaming the Long Lake Resort. A reckless youngster tried to intimidate Dot, but the pig was having none of that.<\/p>\n

When the cow bucked the fence, Dot held her ground and even tried to bite and push back at her would-be bully bison. That was enough to drive all the bison back, leaving Dot defiantly standing her ground.<\/p>\n

When it\u2019s bison versus pig, the odds seem to be on the pig.<\/p>\n

\u201cDot ain\u2019t scared of no buffalo,\u201d Hendricks said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Some Pig<\/p>\n

The bison and the pig are permanent residents of the Long Lake Resort, occupying different sections of the 1,000-acre property. Hendricks brought bison to Poteau around 25 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started with four cows and one bull, and we have a limited herd of about 20 right now,\u201d Hendricks said. \u201cThey gave people a reason to come to our resort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dot, meanwhile, is a retired crossbreed show pig. Hendrick\u2019s grandson raised her for a National FFA Organization show in Oklahoma City. Instead of taking that not-so-little piggie to market, Dot made it all the way home to the resort\u2019s petting zoo.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has the personality of a dog,\u201d Hendricks said. \u201cYou can whistle at her, and she’ll come, she\u2019ll go for walks and rolls over so you can scratch her belly. When we feed the animals, she never crowds or anything like that. She\u2019s very respectful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dot is the benevolent ruler of the petting zoo. The 600-pound pig cohabitates peacefully with the goats, sheep, and mini-horses that share her space, and she\u2019s a favorite at birthday parties and weddings hosted at the resort.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the big animals that are leery of Dot, and not only the bison. Several trail horses reside at the resort, and Hendricks noted that they also seem keen to avoid the pig.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the horses are standing by the fence and she’s out, she’s gonna walk over to them,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don’t run from her all the time, but sometimes they run away when she walks up to the fence, and she likes that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bullying Bison<\/p>\n

The bison herd at Long Lake Resort has a predictable pattern as they move through their pasture. The cows and their calves usually reach the fence separating them from the petting zoo in the morning and are promptly greeted by Dot.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost times, they just stand and stare at each other,\u201d Hendricks said. \u201cThey don’t attack each other very often.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hendricks was tending to other business at the resort when he saw a young cow revving itself up while Dot watched from the other side of the fence. He immediately pulled out his phone to capture the confrontation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat particular time, that cow decided to see if you could run Dot off,\u201d he said. \u201cDot stood her ground, and that was enough to get them to back off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hendricks isn\u2019t sure if the fence is protecting Dot from the bison, or vice versa. He\u2019s never seen Dot square up to one of the bulls, but he knows a 1,500-pound bull wouldn\u2019t be easily intimidated by a 600-pound pig.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bulls usually don\u2019t get that close to the fence,\u201d he said. \u201cThey stay off by themselves, excepting during breeding season, and they don\u2019t run from nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DotDot the pig at the Long Lake Resort in Poteau, Oklahoma. The 600-pound pig shares a fenceline with a bison herd and regularly wins the stare-downs and fenceline fights she initiates with the cows and calves.\u00a0 (Courtesy John Hendricks)\"TheThe bison herd at the Long Lake Resort in Poteau, Oklahoma. The herd was acquired around 25 years ago, when bison were still rare in Oklahoma, and have been the resort’s “eye candy” ever since.\u00a0 (Courtesy John Hendricks)\"DotDot the pig shares a shed with her petting zoo pals at the Long Lake Resort in Oklahoma. John Hendricks, the resort’s owner, said the pig is “like a dog” and gets along well with people and petting zoo animals, but enjoys antagonizing the resort’s bison and horses when she gets the chance. (Courtesy John Hendricks)\"TheThe bison herd at the Long Lake Resort in Poteau, Oklahoma. The herd was acquired around 25 years ago, when bison were still rare in Oklahoma, and have been the resort’s “eye candy” ever since.\u00a0 (Courtesy John Hendricks)Arrow leftArrow rightAnimal Farm<\/p>\n

While Dot is the star attraction of the petting zoo, Hendricks said the bison are \u201cthe eye candy\u201d of Long Lake Resort. Even after 25 years, they\u2019re still something of a novelty in southeast Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Bison) are a little more common now than they were back then, but we were like the only people in the area that had any at the time,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people would drive by just to look at them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hendricks isn\u2019t worried about keeping the peace between his livestock. Dot might enjoy an antagonizing swine stare down with bison and horses, but she\u2019ll readily share a bed with her petting zoo pals.<\/p>\n

Together, the pig and the bison add to the experience Hendricks and his family have cultivated at their resort. Bison might be the novelty, but Dot brings the charisma.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s very personable,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s like a dog and gets along with everybody, but if the bison are near the fence, she\u2019s going to strut over to them and stare them down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With their immense size and pugnacious attitudes, bison have few natural predators. Their natural enemies include humans, wolves,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-415624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}