And you thought they were domesticated?

It wasn’t exactly a bull in a china shop, but a water buffalo that ran amok during a town parade did as much damage. At last Thursday’s annual Carabao Festival in Pulilan, Bulacan, panic ensued among thousands lining the parade route when a carabao that was apparently agitated by the crowd suddenly started running at full speed.


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Its master fell off the wagon that was attached to the carabao, as it careened into spectators and knocked over motorcycles and vendors’ carts. I saw one woman get run over by the carabao and three smaller carabaos tied to the same wagon. She was helped to her feet and did not appear to have serious injuries.

The creature was actually a Bulgarian buffalo, a cousin of the native kalabaw. A growing number of farmers are breeding and raising the imported species for its size and quantity of milk. It is apparently less docile than the native variety, which is known as the Filipino farmer’s best friend and a gentle giant.

This water buffalo was anything but gentle. After creating havoc along a kilometer-long stretch of the parade route, it stopped to catch its breath next to a waiting shed. Some brave souls detached the wagon and tied the carabao to the waiting shed. A policeman hit the carabao on the head with a plastic chair, provoking the crazed creature into charging spectators who until then were enjoying the rare spectacle. The carabao ripped the waiting shed from its moorings and dragged the metal wreckage a few hundred meters.

No other carabao has run amok in the long history of the Pulilan festival, according to town mayor Vicente Esguerra. He also approved of the town police’s decision not to shoot the Bulgarian buffalo in the midst of its rampage, despite some calls from spectators. “There are so many people here because of the fiesta. If the police used a gun, someone could have been hurt,” Esguerra said.

About an hour after the carabao became the unexpected attraction, it was too tired to resist any longer and was loaded on a trailer for its trip home to Plaridel. Mayor Esguerra said he would not allow Bulgarian buffalos to participate in the parade any more.