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Hue City, Vietnam Buffalo Rampage Injures 10 People

Buffalo Vietnam

05/14/12 06:36 AM ET  AP

HANOI, Vietnam -- A water buffalo injured 10 people in central Vietnam while rampaging down crowded streets, across a river and through a house before being gunned down at a kindergarten, an official said Monday.

The young male buffalo, normally a docile species used to plow rice fields, ran wild for about three hours over nearly 20 kilometers (12 miles) in Hue City, said local official Dang Van Ngan.

The 300-kilogram (660-pound) animal knocked over a motorbike, swam across a large river, broke down the wooden door of a house and collapsed a bed inside as three family members fled in terror, he added.

The animal bit an elderly woman who was crossing a street and she was hospitalized with head injuries. Nine other people received minor injuries, he said.

The buffalo also charged into a kindergarten where teachers raced to take eight children to safety on the second floor. The animal was corralled in the school's gated grounds, where it took two soldiers and eight bullets to finally bring it down.

Authorities still don't know where the buffalo came from and why it went wild, Ngan said, adding that no one has come forward to claim the animal.

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HANOI, Vietnam -- A water buffalo injured 10 people in central Vietnam while rampaging down crowded streets, across a river and through a house before being gunned down at a kindergarten, an official ...
HANOI, Vietnam -- A water buffalo injured 10 people in central Vietnam while rampaging down crowded streets, across a river and through a house before being gunned down at a kindergarten, an official ...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
moonlightesq
01:54 PM on 05/15/2012
Mad cow disease?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Brianna Cole
Which one wins? The one you feed.
10:56 AM on 05/15/2012
Poor baby. So sad.
06:13 AM on 05/15/2012
Water Buffalos on PCP. Sounds like a good Stephen Speilberg movie!
12:22 AM on 05/15/2012
This must have been terrifying. The animal sounds almost rabid. I'll be glad to hear more as this story progresses. I'd like to know why he went berserk like he did.
I'm surprised too, as these are usually very docile animals.
09:58 PM on 05/14/2012
Water buffalo are gentle and docile dinosaurs, they go amok because something torment them like bugs, mites --or a kind of-- that drill on their horns
viciousvirago
Veritatum Dilexi
12:08 PM on 05/14/2012
All I can think about when I hear the word Hue is our soldiers dying there in record numbers.

Buffaloes are tricky creatures sometimes. Just ask about the Cape Horn buffalo. They will take on an entire pride of lions and the lions (for once) show some respect in trying to take one down.

Maybe this particular male was going thru must. If you have to ask, look it up.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
kahunacook
Takin' my time, choosin' my lines
06:09 PM on 05/15/2012
Rather than must, did you mean rut? (I had to ask, because I looked it up, and couldn't find how must applied here.)
viciousvirago
Veritatum Dilexi
08:23 PM on 05/15/2012
Must IS the correct term. I don't know if it's used primarily for elephants, or all males in the throes of sexual 'i gotta have it' frenzy. Animals, that is. Human males are ETERNALLY in must.
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karen lyons kalmenson
i poem/paint, sometimes, i ain't
11:39 AM on 05/14/2012
very sad, when man and nature collide
for nature, it is suicide
11:37 AM on 05/14/2012
poor buffalo, something or someone must have been tormenting it.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Toast Ed
10:47 AM on 05/14/2012
I was in Hue last Sept and this is a gorgeous, gorgeous place. These types of buffalo are a dime a dozen but nothing would ever leave me to believe they would ever hurt someone, I'm surprised. I would still tell everyone and anyone; go to Vietnam, it's a wonderful place with a wonderful culture.
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olitenup
08:25 PM on 05/14/2012
They are part and party to the illegal rhino horn, elephant tusk, etc. market. I heard it is beautiful. Until they stop the illegal animal parts, coming into the country, I don't care if it falls off the face of the earth.
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cuoi
I wish everyone happiness.
12:58 PM on 05/15/2012
They are trying to stop this. In addition here is one NGO assisting them in Vietnam: http://envietnam.org/index.html
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cuoi
I wish everyone happiness.
01:07 PM on 05/15/2012
I was living in Song Ve for 3 months last year and traveled with local Buddhist monks there to Hue, spiritual capital of Vietnam. A few years ago, my wife and I were living in Saigon full time and we traveled to Hue for a couple of days. Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay or teacher) is one of my favorite Zen Masters and my wife gave me a great surprise. Thay had been a persona non grata in Vietnam since the early 60's...South thought he was Communist and North thought he was CIA operative. Anyhow, back to the story...We took a taxi up in the mountains outside Hue and there were hundreds of Vietnamese gathered. Thay was returning after over 40 years of banishment. It was a temple deep in the jungle and there was a beautiful procession and I got to see him in person. Afterwards I had a long and interesting talk with a monk in the library.
Did you take a nighttime Dragon Boat on the Perfume River? Traditional Vietnamese music and afterwards we lit candles in paper lotus flowers, said a few prayers for peace and let them float on the river. All boats did it about the same time. Looked like a star field on the river.