Viet Nam News
HAI PHONG — The buffalo that gored its owner to death at Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival in Hai Phong on Saturday had not been injected with any stimulant to make it aggressive, local authority has announced.
After the incident, the city and district police shot down the buffalo, numbered 18 in the festival, and collected blood samples for testing. Hoang Trung Hieu, deputy chairman of Do Son District People’s Committee, shared the test results with Phap luat TP HCM (HCM City Law) newspaper.
People at the festival suspected that the buffalo was injected with a stimulant to make it more aggressive while fighting, he said.
“It’s a local spirit festival, and not organised to meet trade targets or any other goal. The incident was unexpected,” Hieu said, adding that such festivals held in the country and world over have their own limited risks, and the same holds for this buffalo fighting festival in the northern port city.
Another buffalo owner who was participating in the festival, however, said buffalo No 18 had been behaving peculiarly even before the festival began. It had refused to go to the village’s communal house before the event, and had got angry when it was forced to go by its owner, he said.
On Sunday, a delegation of officials from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, led by Deputy Minister Trinh Thi Thuy, visited the family of the victim, Dinh Xuan Huong, 47.
Thuy said the ministry would sit with the municipal people’s committee to reconsider whether the festival should continue to be held in the future. "We will gather opinions from concerned organisations, experts and the community before making a decision," she said.
The incident took place on Saturday morning. The buffalo gored Huong in the thigh, chest and neck, and threw him into the air. He died in the afternoon owing to severe injuries. — VNS