８６００万円の白い水牛、タイ首相と「面会」

【バンコクＡＦＰ＝時事】タイのセーター・タウィーシン首相は２０日、首相府で珍しい来賓を出迎えた。先週５０万ドル（約８６００万円）で取引された白い水牛だ。（写真はバンコクの首相府で、白い水牛「コー・ムアン・ペット」をなでるセーター・タウィーシン首相）
　水牛の「コー・ムアン・ペット」は農家の間で有名で、人気テレビドラマに出演するなど、すでにちょっとした有名牛だった。先週高値を付けたことが話題となり、首相と面会することになった。
　コー・ムアン・ペットは４歳で、体高は約１８０センチ。体重１．４トンと、平均的な水牛のほぼ３倍ある。
　身長１９２センチのセーター氏と並ぶと、目線はほぼ同じだ。
　セーター氏は角をなでながら「こんなに美しい水牛がいたなんて知らなかった」と記者らに話した。
　セーター氏は先にＸ（旧ツイッター）で、水牛飼育組合から「ソフトパワー」の一つとして水牛を使ってほしいと提案を受けたと明かしていた。
　タイの地方では水牛は頼れる耕作動物として重宝されており、飼育数も多い。白い個体は珍しく、特に高値で取引される。
　体の大きな水牛も高値で取引されており、昨年はピサヌローク県で、１．４トンの雄牛が１４５万ドル（約２億２０００万円）の値が付いたと報じられた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/03/22-19:00）

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin took the bull by the horns Wednesday as he welcomed an unusual visitor to his offices -- an enormous white buffalo that recently sold for $500,000.
The bulky bovine, named Ko Muang Phet, was renowned in Thai farming circles as a stud animal but hit the mainstream last week with its big-ticket sale, and earned a trip to Government House to meet Srettha.
Standing 1.8 metres (six feet) tall, the four-year-old albino from western Phetchaburi province weighs 1.4 tonnes -- almost three times more than the average buffalo.
Ko Muang Phet has already become a minor TV star, featuring in an episode of the hugely popular Sound From The Field Of Love soap opera.
Srettha -- no shorty himself at 1.92 metres tall -- went nose-to-nose with the horned celebrity in front of Government House.
I had no idea we had such beautiful buffalo, Srettha told gathered reporters, gingerly patting one of the creature's huge curved horns.
Are there more like this?
Water buffalo are ubiquitous in the Thai countryside, prized as sturdy and reliable farm animals, and albino specimens are particularly valuable because of their rarity.
And big bulls are big business -- last year a farmer in northern Phitsanulok province reportedly sold his 1.4-tonne bull for more than $1.45 million.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Srettha said the Thai Buffalo Breeding Association had asked the government to promote the animals as a tool of soft power.
Ko Muang Phet's delighted owner Jintanat Limtongkul was all for the idea.
I want people to get the know buffalo more. Thai people used to be close to agriculture and buffalo, but our lifestyle nowadays has distanced us, he told reporters at Government House.
He pledged to bring four giant buffalo to meet tourists at Bangkok's backpacker hotspot of Khao San Road next month for Songkran -- the Thai new year festival which sees thousands of revellers soak one another in the streets in a mass water fight.