An odd phenomenon has taken place at Uesuna in Paro. A calf has been born with an additional limb leaving its owners bewildered and alarmed. The calf is seemingly healthy at the moment. Meanwhile District Veterinarians say the condition is a genetic disorder and has happened before.
65-year-old Kinley was startled when her neighbour ran to her to inform her of the strange incident. The owner of the calf said she was surprised to see that her cow had given birth to a calf with an extra limb on the shoulder.
She immediately took the calf to the shed and hid it there out of fear of how others in her village would react.
Kinley said, “We think it is a bad omen to have extra limbs. So I hid the calf in the shed. I didn’t talk about it to anyone. We informed the Tshogpa of the case. If anything bad happens in the community, we will be blamed for it. My husband wanted it removed but I didn’t allow him. We also consulted an astrologer and sought his views. He said it was a good omen and told us to put a white scarf on its neck.”
To her delight, the villagers have been reassuring.
“I did not see or hear about such a case in my life. This is the first time that I have seen an extra limb on a calf. I don’t see anything wrong and I think there is nothing to fear and hide,” said Tshering Pem, a villager.
Namgay Wangchuk, another villager added, “although this is the first time that I have come across such case, I don’t think there is anything to be anxious about. I only heard of cows giving birth to two calves and some being born with additional teats.”
Experts affirmed that there is nothing unusual about it.
Dr Tenzin Wangchuk, a Veterinarian at Paro Dzongkhag Veterinary Hospital said, “it is a congenital defect that occurs when the calf is growing in the womb. It is formed due to the recessive gene. It can happen to any cattle. This is not the first case in Bhutan as well. Similarly there are many superstition related to such cases, but this is normal.”
He said the veterinary hospital offered their assistance to remove the extra limb surgically if the family wants to. But he said they have decided against doing it. A similar case was also reported in Monggar in 2020.
Namgay Wangchuk
Edited by Sangay Chezom
