Rescued calf for 100 Thai baht warms hearts on TikTok journey

The young calf that warmed the hearts of TikTok users by sitting in the back of a pickup truck on its journey home has been found. The touching backstory of the calf, worth merely a hundred baht, has since been revealed.

On New Year’s Eve, a TikTok user captured a video of the calf sitting in a pickup truck, registration number BR-7606 from Buriram, running along the road. This calf, in particular, sat in the vehicle like a human, unfazed even though the pickup had no partition. This endeared it to social media users who spotted it.

News reporters discovered the owner of the truck and the calf in Non Din Daeng, Buriram. They eventually met with Somang Kaewwiset, 53 years old, at house number 144 in Nong Kog Village, Sompoi, Non Din Daeng, Buriram. He explained that he obtained the calf while working as a carpenter at a temple in Kanchanaburi. While buying food in the village, he found villagers preparing to slaughter the one-year-one-month-old female calf for food for a New Year’s festival. However, he felt uneasy upon learning that the calf had a weak left front leg and both hind legs, with only its right front leg being normal. So he requested the owner of the calf to spare its life, though he didn’t have much money.

The owner kindly agreed to sell the cow for only 100 baht (US$2.9) as a token, reported Sanook. Both pleased with their shared compassion, he named the calf Jao Boonrod. He then placed her in his pickup truck, loosely tied, allowing her to move around a bit, and drove back to Buriram.

He was surprised that Jao Boonrod wasn’t scared during the approximately 10-hour journey from Kanchanaburi to Buriram. Somang added that he already had two other cows at home. Initially, he used construction scaffolding as a makeshift pen and tied a rope to support her, to help her exercise her legs. He intended to take care of Jao Boonrod as best as he could until she recovered.

His 34 year old daughter, Chanana Kaewwiset, recounted that during the 10-hour journey, they regularly stopped to give Jao Boonrod water and grass. She was well-behaved. After people shared her photos, they were pleased that many people admired Jao Boonrod. Both she and her father planned to take the best care of her.