Tags
bovine, Cambodia, cattle, Cattle in Cambodia, cow, Water buffalo
World wildlife Wednesday has rolled around again, and I was stuck for an idea this week until my friend Viv, who lives in Thailand, posted a photo of one of her local water buffalo.
My photos, however, were not taken in Thailand but in Cambodia, where I lived and worked for seven months back in 2013. Both water buffalo and the local cattle are common sights there, pulling wagons and ploughs, and wallowing in muddy watering holes. These valuable, well-tended beasts of burden are also farmed for their dairy products, and cow dung has long been used both as fertiliser and as fuel in impoverished countries like Cambodia. Cattle also feature in their ancient religions, and representations can be seen in the stone statues and sculptured reliefs that adorn the world-famous temples of Angkor Wat and the local pagodas. So, today we have a celebration of ‘bovinity’!
earthstar 
A fascinating cultural insight, the buffalo seem contented and very chilled!
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I wouldn’t get too close to them but their minders are often very young children.
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Interesting (and I love the painted statues!) I wish, though, that people didn’t put rope or metal into or through animals’s bodies. Surely it must be possible without?
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I hear you, Val, and it’s not something I like to see either, though I imagine rope around a neck could strangle and around a leg could rub and cause sores. There’s no easy answer in poverty-stricken countries. The animals are generally well cared for because they are valuable assets to poor families.
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