CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 50-year-old farmer was gored to death on March 14 by one of three bulls that he was raising in the mountain barangay of Babag in Cebu City.
Councilwoman Rebecca Kilaton of Barangay Babag told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview on March 15, about the fatal goring incident and identified the victim as her neighbor, Camuel Vasquez, of Sitio Hantik of the barangay.
According to Kilaton, that Vasquez had wounds in the head, face and chest, which she believed were pierced by the bull’s horn during the attack.
Kilaton said that Vasquez left behind with his passing a wife and six children.
She said that Vasquez, who owned the bulls, would usually wake up at 4 a.m., and bring these animals to pasture in the neighboring Sitio Bay-as.
However, at 6 a.m. that day, a neighbor saw the bloodied Vasquez lying on the muddied ground with a restless and agitated bull nearby. The neighbor sought the help of Barangay Tanod Felix Cadutdut, who managed to calm the bull and retrieve the bloodied Vasquez.
Kilaton said that medical personnel, who responded from their call for help, rushed Vasquez to the hospital, but the victim did not reach the hospital alive.
Kilaton also said that she failed to inform authorities of the fatal goring incident immediately because they were more concerned of saving Vasquez and bringing him to the hospital.
She said that they only informed the authorities about the death at past 9 a.m. that day.
According to Kilaton, that before the goring incident, a prospective buyer would have wanted to buy the bull that attacked Vasquez for P50,000, but the farmer refused the offer.
She also said that they did not know what drove the bull to attack its owner, Vasquez. /dbs