Police in an Ohio town are trying to deal with a nuclear family of large fugitives.

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Three bison, a mom and dad and their calf, escaped last week from a pasture in Chester with inadequate fences. That presents police with a dilemma.

Full-grown bison weigh more than a ton, stand 6 1/2 feet high and have a large pair of horns. A charging bison can do a lot of damage.

"At this point, it's a safety concern," Capt. Mark Purchase told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Knocking the animals out with a tranquilizing dart might seem to be the way to go. But an incapacitated bison a long way from the road would be exceedingly hard to move, while darting one near a road might be dangerous because of the harm an enraged bison could cause before it conks out.

In the end, Purchase said, police may have to shoot the bison, but even that is problematic because a police-issue .45 is unlikely to bring down a bison.