The bull stays in the corral.
Metal barricades will continue to surround the famed bronze Wall Street bull in Bowling Green Park for the foreseeable future, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday.
“The cops have to make a decision,” he said. “If it looks like somebody’s going to deface it, they’ve got to be there.”
The 3 1/2-ton symbol of the city’s financial industry hasn’t been allowed to roam free since Occupy Wall Street demonstrators set up a homestead in Zuccotti Park on Sept. 17.
The protesters are gone, but Bloomberg says the bull remains caged for its own protection.
“It’s just sad that there are people who might want to [vandalize] it,” he said.
“There’s always risks. But I think there’s a bigger risk at the moment . . . It’s just a symbol of our times. Hopefully, with time, people will stop focusing on that.”
One community leader complained to The Post that tourists, who’ve been known to jump on the bull to pose for pictures, are being scared away by the barricades.
The mayor said cops “try to be accommodating” and allow photographs “if you want to get in behind the barricade.”