Bovine love: OPS son helps reunite cow with Manjamalai bull

The bull called ‘Manjamalai Kaalai’ was upset after the dairy farmer Muniyandi alias Raja, resident of Palamedu East Street, resorted to distress sale of the milch cow. It was on Sunday last that the disturbed bull ran behind the vehicle in which the cow was being transported for sale through a middleman identified as Manikandan. Since the dairy farmer was said to have run out of money due to the corona crisis, he had decided to sell the animal.

With the help of the middleman, the farmer managed to sell it at a cost of Rs18,000, sources said. The bull looked crestfallen after it remained separated from the cow. A video clip of the bull running behind the vehicle transporting the cow also went viral on social media. The gesture of P Jayapradeep, the second son of Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, came as a surprise to many, especially from the local community, after he managed to bring the cow back on Tuesday. Jayapradeep, when contacted, said as the bull-cow bonding was sentimentally viewed, his father rang him up and asked him to trace the cow and get it back to Palamedu. After making several enquiries, the cow that was taken to Usilampatti and later to Sattur could finally be located at Ettayapuram in Thoothukudi district. By offering money demanded by the buyer who bought the cow in Ettayapuram, it was brought back to Palamedu.

The cow was then handed over to the Manjamalai temple committee, after providing costs for its upkeep. However, sources in the Animal Husbandry Department said it was natural for the bull, a regular visitor to the veterinary dispensary in the locality, to get attached to the cow.

After a video went viral of the anxious bull trying to stop his cow companion from being sent away, P Jayapradeep, son of OPS stepped in and brought the cow back