A rare albino buffalo with a striking tuft of golden-blond hair and a 1,500-pound frame has become the most unexpected viral sensation in Bangladesh, packing the Dhaka National Zoo with curious visitors nearly a week after the animal was relocated from a rural farm to the capital’s public facility.
The unusual saga began when a local farmer noticed the buffalo’s pale coat and distinctive hairstyle bore an uncanny resemblance to the signature look of former U.S. President Donald Trump. The farmer shared a short clip of the horned mammal to social media, and the video spread like wildfire across regional platforms, drawing hundreds of sightseers to the small farm located on the outskirts of Dhaka in the days that followed.
What makes the story even more surprising is the buffalo’s original fate: the animal had been purchased ahead of Eid al-Adha, the annual Muslim Festival of Sacrifice, and was marked for slaughter. Instead, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the buffalo seized and transferred to the Dhaka zoo, citing growing public safety risks from the uncontrolled crowds gathering at the rural farm. Authorities issued a full refund to the buyer who had purchased the buffalo for the holiday ritual to finalize the transfer.
Since the move, hundreds of visitors have continued to brave sweltering, humid Bangladeshi summer temperatures each day to catch a glimpse of the viral buffalo. On Tuesday, crowds pressed against the railings of the animal’s enclosure, many holding up smartphones to capture footage, with parents lifting small children onto their shoulders to get a clearer view of the attraction. Zoo staff have rolled out special pampering care for the new star: keepers regularly style its blond hair, spray it down with cool water, and set up fans nearby to help it beat the heat.
Many visitors who traveled from across the country say the comparison to the former U.S. president is impossible to miss. “There is a clear resemblance to Donald Trump in its eyes, hairstyle, and skin color,” said Mohammed Nasim, a university student based in Dhaka. “And just as Donald Trump has a one-of-a-kind personality and lives a life that’s always in the spotlight, this buffalo, after going viral, is living a similar life now – it gets endless attention and special treatment that no other animal here gets.”
Not everyone has welcomed the joke, however. Initially, the zoo posted a display sign next to the enclosure that openly labeled the buffalo “Donald Trump,” but that signage has since been removed. The zoo’s head curator was fired from their post the previous Saturday, with no official explanation released for the dismissal, a move widely linked to backlash over the naming.
Critics argue that attaching the name of a prominent global political leader to a farm animal is a disrespectful misstep. “Giving a farm animal the name of one of the world’s most influential leaders was certainly the wrong thing to do,” said Mohammad Joynal Adedin, a Dhaka resident who still visited the zoo to see the buffalo despite his objection. “It seems disrespectful. I think the farmer who did this made a poor decision.”
For many other visitors, though, the viral fame of the buffalo was reason enough to make the trip. “Since before Eid, I had been seeing posts on Facebook saying that ‘Donald Trump’ would be sacrificed. Later, I heard that instead of being slaughtered, it had been placed in the zoo,” said Mohammad Habibur Rahman, a traveler who made the trip to Dhaka from Jashore, a city in southwestern Bangladesh. “So, I thought I would come to the zoo and see ‘Donald Trump’ for myself.”