Family of carabaos in Pampanga suffer from mysterious lumps

At first glance, people who see "Pandak" tilling a field in Angeles, Pampanga would think she had a fifth leg sticking out of her chest.

However, the water buffalo was actually dragging around a painful tumor that weighed around two kilos. The tender skin around it was infected and was beginning to attract a lot of flies.

"('Pag) nakikita kong nasasaktan ang kalabaw ko, lumalayo po ako kasi medyo mabigat pong kaunti sa kalooban ko kasi nakikita ko yung kalagayan niya," Pandak's owner, Ronnie de Leon, said.     

On Sunday's episode of “Born to be Wild,” Doc Nielsen Donato went to Mang Ronnie's farm to check on his carabao's unusual condition.

An operation to remove the mass could not be performed as Pandak was pregnant at the time, so the team carefully extracted samples to see if the tumor was cancerous.

Unfortunately, the tests came back positive.

Even worse, Pandak's mother Mestiza and her child Batwina showed similar symptoms.

The small lump on Batwina's chest was bleeding and was also starting to get infected.

"Sa whole assessment ko, parang hindi naman siya genetic eh. parang its a combination of irritation dahil sa mga langaw and dahil nga sa kanilang lahi. 'Yung Murrah buffalo ay merong prominent chest. Pag tumataba sila, lumalawlaw daw yung dibdib nila," Doc Nielsen explained.

The expert stressed that all animals, especially after a hard day's work like that of water buffalos, deserve proper care.

"Hindi ho sila makapagsalita pero (may) nararamdaman at naiisip din po sila," Mang Ronnie said. — Margaret Claire Layug/MDM, GMA News