The Wat Pa Dara Phirom Foundation, on the occasion of HM the King’s birthday, saved 36 buffaloes from slaughter and have now donated them to the Phrae Province Police, to help the Phrae police officials who applied to join the project. The aim is to not just save the lives of the buffalo, but to help low income police officers to have an added income. The scheme is titled Buffalo Bank, and has been in operation for over 40 years and to date has saved and donated over 5,000 buffaloes. The abbot of Wat Pa Dara Phirom tole CityNewsw that following donations of 485,000 baht received, the temple was able to purchase these 36 buffaloes which will be donated with the caveat that none are to be sold until they die and that the first offsprings of these donated buffaloes will have to be donated back to the Buffalo Bank while other offsprings can be sold. To date, over 100 buffaloes have been returned to the Buffalo Bank. A team of veterinarians from Chiang Mai University will be monitoring and caring for the health of all buffaloes donated.
