A Buddhist monk is best friends with a motherless baby cow – after rescuing him from the roadside.
Pracha Thammanart , 40, found the new-born calf starving in a field after its mother died during labor.
The monkcarried the animal – nicknamed Wow – home and hand-reared him with bottles of milk and small pieces of grass.
They are now ‘inseparable’ and Wow follows Thammanart around, nuzzles him and even lays next to him while he is meditating at his temple in Chachoengsao, Thailand.
Thammanart said: ‘The little calf was so helpless when I found him. The mother had died a few minutes after giving birth.
‘He was so hungry, he hadn’t eaten for days. I took him back to the temple and began nursing him all day and night.
‘We named him Wow and everyday I walked him to make him stronger. Now he can run and jump, he is so very happy.
‘Wow loves to play, he cuddles me and follows me round everywhere in the temple. People come to see him and he loves the attention.
‘Wow seems to understand human language very well. He’s a very special cow.’
Tramnat keeps Wow, now six-months-old, in a cattle shed with older cows at the temple.
The food supply is kept-well stocked with fresh grass, water and milk. Vets have also been to regularly check on the animal.
Visitors at the temple have brought gifts, offerings and donations for Wow.
Buddhists believe that ‘merit making’ by carrying out good deeds will accumulate karma that is carried into the afterlife and next reincarnation.
Tramnat said that they will now keep Wow at the temple with their other animals.
He added: ‘Wow has brought us a lot of good luck since he has been here, and more people have been coming to see him.
‘He’s our lucky cow. In Buddhism we believe that helping animals will bring us rewards in the afterlife.
‘Rescuing Wow, and helping him to grow strong, will show that we are doing good deeds in this life.
‘That’s what we are taught to do as monks, so I never had any hesitation in collecting Wow and helping him.’
