Bangladesh's Blond Buffalo Gets Its Fifteen Minutes Before the Slaughterhouse

There’s a 700-kilogramme albino buffalo roaming a farm just outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, and for the past month, it’s become the unlikely face of viral fame. The animal’s flowing blond hair—so striking that owner Zia Uddin Mridha’s brother couldn’t resist nicknaming it after a certain former US president—has turned this ordinary livestock into a social media sensation that’s drawing crowds by the hour.

The resemblance is admittedly uncanny. Visitors traipse through the farm in May to glimpse the creature’s signature combover, meticulously groomed and brushed between its sweeping curved horns. Children peer through gates. Businessmen arrive with entourages. One man’s nephew took a one-hour boat journey just for a photo op. Even Zia Uddin Mridha, who has raised this four-year-old buffalo for the past year, watches the circus with a mix of pride and affection—bathing the animal four times daily to keep that distinctive helmet of hair camera-ready. The joke stops at the hair, though. Mridha is quick to note that any similarities between the buffalo and President Donald Trump end right there.

The timing, however, adds an unexpected layer of poignancy. Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people, is preparing for Eid al-Adha later this month—the Islamic feast of the sacrifice. More than 12 million livestock are expected to be ritually slaughtered during the holiday, a time when families across the country, especially poorer households, get rare access to meat. The“Donald Trump”buffalo, for all its internet stardom, is destined for the same fate.

The crowds and stress have already taken their toll. The buffalo has lost weight from the constant stream of visitors, prompting Mridha to restrict public access. Yet that hasn’t stopped the determined pilgrims. And while the animal enjoys a curious form of celebrity—daily baths, a global social media following, comparison to world leaders—its moment in the sun is measured in days, not years. Mridha said it plainly:“I am going to miss Donald Trump, but that is the core spirit of Eid al-Adha—making a sacrifice.”

It’s a reminder that in our age of viral moments and fleeting internet fame, some stories end exactly as tradition prescribes, regardless of how many people showed up to take a selfie along the way.