Vivienne told The Phuket News that she was appalled by what she saw. “The mother had her left hind leg severed by a very sharp knife, through the bone at the knee. It was a very clean cut – not the result of a hit-and-run accident. It looked like a deliberate attack.”
Vivienne rang a local veterinarian’s practice but was told that they could not help until the buffalo owner had arrived.
It was then that she discovered that the injured buffalo had a calf, which appeared to be only a few days old, and which was attempting to suckle and was calling out to its mother.
“The mother had been bleeding profusely from the wound and dragging herself with her calf in tow across the vacant land next to the Ban Don-Nai Thon Rd and onto the roadway,” Vivienne said.
Vivienne bought some milk and fed the calf until representatives from the Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor) arrived to transport the animal back to its owner’s farm in the Ban Don area.
An officer at the Provincial Office of Disaster Prevention & Mitigation confirmed that they had spoken with the buffalo owner.
“Unfortunately he said he could not afford to pay the veterinarian’s fees and requested that the OrBorTor return the injured animal to him.”
The mother buffalo was later put down, though the calf survived. A person at the scene, who did not wish to be named, said, “I’ve no idea how this happened. Perhaps it was a result of a dispute or something.”