Brad McMichael, a 45-year-old farmer from Oklahoma, died from injuries after being attack by two water buffaloes he had bought for his farm. The incident took place in Jones, a small town, around 30 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, on Friday. A livestock farmer, McMichael had bought the water buffaloes at an auction just the day before they killed him, his family revealed.
While wild water buffaloes are dangerous, domesticated ones, usually reared as livestock, for milk production or in farming, are generally calm. However, if provoked or threatened, water buffaloes can become aggressive and can attack humans. Exactly why the water buffaloes attacked McMichael is not known.
His girlfriend, Jennifer Green, told Oklahoma-based TV news channel KOCO that McMichael was an experienced handler of animals and had been in this profession for years. He saw the buffaloes as “an opportunity” for the meat, she revealed.
Green said that “livestock can be aggressive at any moment if they’re stressed, when they’re in an auction environment, when they’re traveling, or when they’re with a new owner.” Both wild buffaloes have been euthanized after they showed aggressive behavior towards the police officer, the police in Jones said.
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{{/usCountry}}McMichael's girlfriend Jennifer Green added: “He loved his livestock and as tragic as this, as he died doing something that he loved. “He loved to laugh. He loved to make other people laugh. Those that really knew him know what a huge loss and a huge void that is to fill,” she added.