18 escaped water buffaloes have wreaked havoc on a couple's garden and pool in the UK. The couple discovered the animals, each weighing 600 kilograms, in the morning. "When my wife wanted to make breakfast tea and looked out the window, she saw eight buffaloes in the pool," Andy Smith from the eastern English county of Essex told the Guardian newspaper (Saturday).
"She dialed the emergency number - but the fire department said she didn't care about prank calls. It took a lot of persuasion for them to take us seriously." Later, the fire brigade arrived. Above all, the farmer, from whom the animals had escaped because of a broken electric fence, finally helped to catch them – unharmed.
Images from surveillance cameras clarified the incident. Accordingly, the buffaloes migrated into the garden early in the morning. One stepped on the pool cover and fell into the water, causing seven other animals to jump in. The clear water turned into a muddy broth.
"This pool was our luxury for retirement," Smith said. "It was earned with a lot of sweat and effort, but after the buffaloes swam in it, it licked and was unusable."
After months of waiting and wrestling with an insurance company, there was now good news for the couple: The damage caused to the incident last July to the garden and pool of around 25,000 pounds (28,750 euros) will be covered.