Bangladesh spares viral albino buffalo nicknamed Donald Trump before Eid sacrifice

A rare albino buffalo with a blond tuft and white forehead patch was spared from Eid al-Adha sacrifice in Bangladesh after its farm became a destination for crowds drawn by viral videos and a nickname that stuck.

The animal, kept by 38-year-old Zia Uddin Mridha in Narayanganj, just outside Dhaka, weighed nearly 700 kilograms, or about 1,543 pounds, and had already been sold for ritual slaughter when authorities stepped in. Mridha said his younger brother gave the buffalo its “Donald Trump” name after spotting the resemblance to the U.S. president’s hairstyle.

What began as a local oddity turned into a national spectacle. Photos and videos of the buffalo’s striking appearance, including the combed-over blond tuft and white forehead patch, spread online and brought steady crowds to the farm. Mridha said the attention left the buffalo stressed and losing weight, even though it was unusually gentle and required frequent feeding and regular baths.

Bangladesh’s home minister, Salahuddin Ahmed, ordered the buffalo spared, the buyer refunded, and the animal transferred to the Bangladesh National Zoo in Dhaka, where it was set to remain on public display. Livestock officials describe albino buffaloes as extremely rare in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of about 170 million people where more than 12 million head of livestock are expected to be sacrificed during Eid al-Adha.

The decision placed a viral animal at the intersection of religious custom, public curiosity and state authority. Eid al-Adha, the Islamic feast of sacrifice, is a central holiday across Bangladesh, and for many poorer families it is one of the few times of year meat is widely available. In this case, the buffalo’s unusual appearance and online fame changed its fate just as the festival was being observed.

Mridha had cared for the buffalo for about a year, and the farm’s menagerie included other attention-grabbing animals with names such as Tufan, Fat Boy, Sweet Boy and a bull named after Neymar. But none matched the buffalo’s pull. By the time officials intervened, the animal had become too well known to disappear into the normal Eid slaughter line, and too visible to leave at the center of a security concern.