Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This footage seen over seven million times shows a pregnant cow kneeling in front of a man and apparently ‘begging’ him to spare her life – leading netizens to crowdfund saving her and giving her to a Buddhist temple.
On Chinese social network Weibo, the hashtag ‘cow for slaughter kneels, netizens set it free’ has had more than 140 million impressions since the video went viral on 5th January.
The footage was taken at an abattoir in the town of Tongyu, in Shantou City in South China’s Guangdong Province, where the cow was to be slaughtered and sold as beef.
However, shortly before it was due to be killed, the reportedly pregnant cow got on its knees and is even said to have shed tears in a gesture which appeared to show it begging for its and its unborn calf’s lives.
Animal lovers in the province reportedly contacted the slaughterhouse and asked them to spare the cow’s life.
Lin Wangbo, one of the local residents who helped raise funds to purchase the animal, told local media: “While being taken to the slaughterhouse, the cow started kneeling.
“At the slaughterhouse, when the man tried to lead the cow inside, it knelt down again and started crying.
“He took a video and put it online, then we got in touch with him asking him not to slaughter the cow.
“We wanted to raise enough funds to buy the cow off him and set it free.
In the end, we released it in the grounds of a local Buddhist temple.”
Mr Lin and others raised a total of 24,950 RMB (2,735 GBP), which was enough to buy the cow and send it to Huilai Jinshi Temple, where the animal will presumably give birth.
Footage reportedly showing the cow being led away from the abattoir shows it continuing to kneel as if to thank its rescuers.
Any leftover funds would be donated to the temple, Mr Lin noted.
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