FREAK BULL CALF

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 221, 16 August 1939, Page 2

FREAK BULL CALF

BORN WITH DOC’S HEAD OTHER DOG CHARACTERISTICS An amazing freak bull call was born on Mr. H. Meluteer’s property at 151stow, near To Arolia last week. The calf is endowed with the head and hindquarters of a. bulldog, its tail resembles that of a pointer, and its ears, which are floppy and set well back, are similar to those of a retriever. The animal was brought into To Arolm -by. its owner last Wednesday afternoon and attracted much interest. There is little to suggest that it is a calf except that its coat is distinctly bovine. The calf’s breaking is not unlike that of a panting dog, and when left alone it investigates its surroundings with a considerable amomit of sniffing. The intelligence of the calf is above normal, and when anyone calls it, it raises its head and looks up just as a, dog Would do. When it sniffs it hares two prominent, pointed teeth. The mother of the freak, a Jersey, would have nothing to do with her offspring, and walked some distance away. When Mr. Mdntcer drove the cow towards her calf it shied away.

The calf is perfectly healthy and will be rearedi by its owner. A Press Association nffcssage states that the calf has since been sold for £‘.‘loo, and will lie displayed throughout New Zealand. TWIN FREAKS AT-GISBORNE ’ Two freak calves having a resemblance to bulldogs, were born to a .Jersey cow on Mr. 1). O’Connell’s farm, Mnnutuke. on Monday morning. The calves, which were both stillborn, had large hat- faces, short bodies and stumpy legs. The face of each animal was most-unusual, there being no nose ami the nostrils hardly discernible. It. is unusual for a dairy cow to give birth to a freak calf, and it is slid more unusual for twins to he both deformed.