How to Stop a Stampede

Whether it's a pack of herd animals or a crowd of scared people at a soccer stadium, a stampede is a lethal and chaotic event. Like a tornado or tsunami, a stampede will destroy anything in its way if it is not stopped. Controlling or stopping a stampede is not easy, but it can be done. Follow these steps to weaken a stampede and stop it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Coordinate with the managers of the herd or crowd. The first and perhaps most important thing is that the people who are supposed to be in control remain in control. This means that managers of the herd or crowd acknowledge that a stampede is forming and that they follow a unified plan about how to deal with it so that they don't end up contributing to it.
2. Turn the stampede on itself. Cowboys, or herd managers, have dealt with animal stampedes by turning the stampede on itself. This task is not easy but it is effective. The cowboys must coordinate in order to turn the front of the stampede into a large arc that ends in the middle of the stampede. The animals, confused and confronted by themselves, should stop stampeding.
3. Channel the stampede into an open space. Particularly with human stampedes, getting the crowd to an open space where people can spread out and lose the mob impulse is crucial. The same holds true for herd stampedes; however regaining control of the herd after it's been released into a large open space presents another challenge.
4. Direct the stampede into a closed, secure place. If the animals do not cease to stampede, getting them into a large closed space will end the stampede. This is a last ditch effort, since it can result in the deaths of many animals, from trampling. For this reason, it is not a way to control a human stampede but can save lives and property from a herd stampede.